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Warbaia ColUge l.tliiars
CHARLES MINOT
OlMi Of 1888
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Sacbatt ColUgt libiaci!
CHARLES MINOT
OUaa of 1828
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MEN WHO HAVE MADE THE NEW
GERMAN EMPIRE.
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C N T E N T S.
Edwakh Lasker
Field-Makshal Von Wiiaxcel 19
VI.
The Crown Prince of I'rupria and Germany 3"
VII. '
PniKrE Frf-debick Charles oi^ I'kussia ... 8
VIII.
King Albert op Saxony 100
(Tas Late Kiko John of .Saxokt, 107—121.
IX.
Field-Marshal General Herwaeth Von Bittenfeld 140
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Contents.
X
Fielr-Mahshal Steinmktz , , . . 151
XI.
FiELD-MaRSHAI JlANTEUFFliL 163
XII.
General Vogel Von I-'alckenstkis .... 181
XI II.
General GObkn 192
XIV.
General Werder 203
XV.
General Von der Tann 236
XV2,
General Hartmann 258
XVII.
General Alvenslebbn'II. ... . 266
Digilized by Google
Contents.
XVIII.
General Hindersin ...... 271
The Money Marshals 277
XIX.
Hevdt 278
XX.
Campiiausen '286
Bismarck's Stafv 294
XXI.
l^ESIDENT Dl'XBRCtK 293
r ■
XXII.
LOTHAR BUCHEK 307
by Google
Contents.
Special Arms and Victualling Department 318
by Google
MEN WHO HAVE MADE THE
NEW GERMAN EMPIRE.
EDWARD LASKER.
The leader of the most important Bcction of the great
National-Liberal party in the German Reichstag,
upon whose decision seemed to hinge some time back
the momentous question of a possible renewal of the
old conflict between crown and parliament, so happily
terminated on a former occasion by the indemnity
vote given in 1866, occupies such a prominent
position just now in German and, indeed, in European
politics, that a few facts and notes anent the man
and his career wUl not be out of place.
There is no need here to discuss the great question
of the German Army Bill. Such a discussion would
lead tiB too far. Suffice it just to bint, that the
motives which induced the German govemment to
insist upon the project of law being carried intact as
proposed, and as a permanent and not merely a
biennial or quinquennial measure, lay much deeper
Men who have made the
than was apparent on the outside. Moltke had been
compelled to put forward what has been termed the
" French plea " aa the chief, if not the sole, cause of
the necessity of the new Army Bill. He could not
weU be expected, uuder the cireuniBtancea, to hint at
possible hostile coalitions against the German empire.
But the Emperor "William, the great chancellor,
Moltke, and the other military advisers of the crown
were painfully conscious of the probability, rather
than the simple possibility, of certain by no meanf)
distant contingencies that might be expected to try
and test to the utmost stretch all the vigour and
resources of the new empire.
Had Bismarck been able to plead the cause of
government personally before the Reichstag, there
can barely be a doubt but he would have fully
succeeded in carrying with him the votes of the
National-Liberals and the more reasonable of the
progressists. UnhappOy, the chancellor's illness had
thrown the entire machinery out of gear. When
Atlas bends, however slightly, the burthen he carries
mnst necessarily begin to oscillate.
It was not very surprising, then, that Lasker,
who before 1866 was himself one of the most
advanced and uncompromising progressists, should
dislike to grant the government such an extensive
vote of confidence as was implied in the Army Bill,
especially in the absence of the all-conquering influ-
ence of the sole snpreme chief of that government.
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New Gennan Empire.
The vile suggestion which has been thrown out in
some quarters, that disappointed ambition had aome-
thing to do with Lasker's reluctance to vote the Army
Bill, must be repudiated with scorn. Lasker is the
last man in the world to be guided by unworthy
motiTes. The matter is happily settled now. There is
reason to believe that the " septennial " compromise
was first suggested to Bismarck by Lasker.
It was in August, 1866, that the writer had the
pleasure of meeting M. Lasker for the first time. It
was at Baron KeudeU's office we met, where Professor
Tellkampf, member of the Prussian House of Lords
for the University of Breslau, kindly introduced
me to a small, rather insignificant-looking gentle-
man of unmistfikable Hebrew cast of countenance,
with delicate features, fine, intelligent eyes, and
high, thoughtM biow. This was Lasker. Al-
though only in his thirty- seventh year at the time,
his dark hair b^an to show slight tinges of grey.
After listening for half an hour or so to the charms
of his marvellous eloquence, there remained no longer
the least trace of insignificance about the man in my
eyea He stood fully revealed to me as a giant in
intellect, power, and aspirationa
Edward Lasker was bom on the I4th of October,
1829, in the small township of Jarocin, near the
Polish frontier. He was one of a rather numerous
&mily. His father, a Hebrew merchant in a small,
way of business, justly enjoyed a high reputation for
B 2, ibyGoogle
Men who have, made the
integrity. His mother, an excellent woman, gifted
with much natural shrewdness, bestowed the utmost
care upon Uie moral training of her children. A
young Hebrew teacher was engaged as house tutor
to the children, to teach them the Hebrew language
and the Talmud and other sacred books of the Jews.
Little Edward made very rapid progress in his
educational course. He was barely eight years old
when he agreeably surprised his parents and his tutor
with a reaUy meritorious Hebrew translation of one
of Schiller's poems.
In his fourteenth year he had the misfortune to
lose his beloved mother. Soon after this sad loss
his father sent him, together with his elder brother, to
Breslau, to enter the gymnaaium there, where he was
admitted to the fourth form.
He here bestowed upon the acquisition of Latin
and Greek the same untiring zeal and unwearying
diligence with which he had studied Hebrew, and so
rapid was his progress in learning that the fastest
permitted routine advance from class to class was
much too slow for him. So he left the gymnasium,
resolved to prepare himself by private study for
the severe examination to be passed by young men
who wish to enter a Prussian university as students.
Had he continued to pursue his career at the gym-
nasium, it would have taken h im till the age of nine-
teen before routine would have allowed him to show
that he was ripe for the University. But the young
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New Gei'man Empire.
eothuaiaat passed brilliantly at the age of seventeen
and a half, thus gaining a clear saving of eighteen
precious months of the best part of his life.
He had at first intended to study medicine, but
his father for some reason objected, and, obedient to
the paternal wish, he turned his chief attention to
mathematics instead. This was in the year 1847.
Like most young students of the period, Edward
Lasker was an ardent and enthusiastic LiberaL He
joined the Burschenschaft. The great events of 1848
stirred him to his inmost depths. In October of
that annus mirabilia he went to Vienna to hear
the lectures of the famous Professor Endlicher.
These were the sad times when the \inhappy
city of Vienna was besieged by Windischgditz
with overwhelming forces, and defended by a
mere handful of brave men under Bem, Franck,
Measenhauser, Robert Blum, Julius Fistbel, and a ty
few more stanch champions of freedom. Edward
Lasker threw himself heart and soul into the cause :
he joined the famous academic legion, and narrowly
escaped sharing the fate of Bobert Blum, who was
basely and cowardly murdered by Windiachgratz
on tho morning of the 9th of November, 1848.
Lasker, with his clear head, soon understood that
revolutionary risings, such as those of Berlin, Vienna,
and other German cities, were not exactly calculated
to promote the great cause of true liberty and rational
progress. He withdrew from political agitation and
,_ ibyGoogle
Men who have made tite
devoted himself with all the enei^ of his character
to the study of the law. In leas than eighteen months
he was ready to pass his first examination as auscul-
tator {the first step, by the by, in Bismarck's career),
and less than two years after (in 1852) he brilliantly
passed his final state examination.
At this period of his career he had the grievous
misfortune to lose his beloved and revered father.
He Bought solace for his deep grief in foreign travel,
and came to England.
Here he was powerfully attracted by the social
and political life of the nation. He found firmly
established here that constitutional liberty which
formed the object of his most ardent aspirations, and
he resolved to make the institutions of this favoured
land the subject of a searching study. He remained
in England nearly three years and a half. It is not
too much to say, that there is hardly another German
to be found who can justly boast of anything even
remotely approaching the profound and absolute
knowledge of England and everything English which
Edward Lasker possesses.
In 1856 he returned to Prussia, and re-entered
the service of the state. Of course he had to begin
again on the lowest steps of the ladder. In 1858
he obtained the appointment of assessor at the Berlin
City Court, where the heaviest and most complicated
ifiaira were constantly thrown on his shoulders, as
his superior had aoon discovered his singular abilities
New German Empire.
and his marvellous working enei^ and endurance.
He cheerfully bore the burthen of all these arduous
labours, although bis office was a mere titular one
in a pecuniary sense, and though he was quite aware
of how little chance of promotion and lucrative em-
ployment there was for him — the Jew Lasker. I
shall have occasion to return to this point to show
that there are still powerful social and religious
prejudices of which the enlightened Germans will
have to get rid of before they can justly claim to
rank among the most civilized nations.
When Prince William was named regent, and tie
wretched rule of Frederick William IV. and Eliza-
beth was thus brought to a close, Lasker again began
to occupy himself earnestly with political questions.
He wrote some of the most remarkable political
papers of the day. In an article from his pen, which
appeared in Oppenheim's Political and Literary
Annual for the year 1861, under the title "The
Powers of the Police and the Protection of the Law,"
he severely and caustically castigates the monstrous
principle of the Prussian law of the 11th of May, 1842,
which refers all complaints against police officers for
abuse of power and excess of duty to the decision of
the police authorities themselves whose officers are
complained gainst !
" England," Lasker says in tiiis paper, " has attained
to mighty power, not on account of her insular posi-
tion, not by the strength of her wide commercial
: Google
Men who haw. made the
connections ; not, as is sometimes said by those who
do not think deeply upon the matter, de^ite of the
narrow legality within which her movements are
confined, but by the very force of that narrow
legality, that absolute supremacy of the law. It
is this absolute supremacy of the law which has
made England great, and which has bestowed true
freedom upon her. The certainty of finding protec-
tion in the law of the land against all attempts to
commit arbitrary acts inspires the English citizen
with that nobis self-coDsciousness and self-reliance
which more excites the envy of the sensible continental
citizen than the wealth and the many other advan-
tages possessed by England. This proud self-con-
sciousness and self-reliance constitute the chief source
of the Englishman's energy of thought and action,
of his prosperity, of his active participation in the
political life of the nation, of his cheerful willingness
to bear his share of the national burthens, of his
moderation, of the power of the state, and of the
undisturbed order which reigns through the land."
High praise this, indeed ; a pity the picture should
be so glaringly overdrawn and overcoloured. There
is, however, some excuse for Lasker*8 somewhat
extravagant praise. At the time when he penned
this marveUoua panegyric upon the supremacy of law
and justice in England, and the total absence of all
arbitrary will and power in this highly-fevoured
country, the Tichbome trial and its sad lessons lay
,,ih;,Goot^lc
New German Empire.
BtUl buried in the womb of the future. Now of
course we know better.
Lasker aoon became renowned as one of the most
eminent political writers of the day. In every
article from his pen it was clearly apparent that he
had thoroughly maatered the subject he was writing
upon. His clear exposition, lucid diction, and ner-
vous style gave even to his lightest and most
fugitive papers the character of political essays of
the highest order.
All this time the great writer coDtinued in his
humble office of assessor, without pay, to the Berlin
City Court. Being a man of singularly simple and
frugal habits, he has always found it easy to defray
the expenses of his living, kc, out of the proceeds
of his literary labours and his chamber practice as a
jurisconsult Had he ever felt disposed to turn his
immense talents and knowledge and bis indefatigable
working powers to profitable account in the manner
of so many of his contemporaries, he might easily
have acquired wealth. But Lasker is cast in an
antique mould : the eager pursuit of wealth has
no charms for him ; he freely gives his best services
to his country and his fellow-men with rare disin-
If I mistake not he is still a bachelor. He is of
a most amiable temper and most affectionate dis-
poaition ; children more especially he lovea dearly.
I do not know whether he still continues to lodge
,_ ibyGoogle
10 Alen who have made the
with Ills old landlord and landlady, with whom he
lived for years in the third story of a most un-
pretending mansion, and whom he followed to
even more modest quarters when the unconscionable
rise of rents in Berlin compelled them to " move on ; "
but I should believe ao.
In 1862, if I mistake not, Lasker became a member
of the Berlin Press Union, also of the great Berlin
Workmen's Union, where he soon took a leading part
as a public lecturer on the subjects most interesting
to working men.
When the great conflict between crown and parlia-
ment was raging, Laaker treated the constitutional
and budget questions in a series of papers, published
iu the " German annuals," which excited universal
attention and made the great Liberal and Progressist
party anxious to secure the writer for one of their
champions in parliament.
This was, however, much more easily conceived
to be a most desirable thing to do than to be
carried into effect. There was a formidable obstacle
in the path — the same obstacle, in fact, which opposed
itself to Lasker 's promotion in the legal profession, of
which he yet wsis universally admitted to be one of
the brightest ornaments. As has already been men-
tioned, Lasker is a Jew.
Here in England, where we have only recently
bestowed the second highest equity office iu the land
upon a Jew gentleman, who, be it said without dis-
i,,,_,dbyGooglc
New German Empire.
par^ement of his legal attaiomeutB, caDuot possibly
claim comparison with auch a giant of the law as
Lasker is, we can barely conceive that Germany
should still lag so far behind in true civilization and
enlightenment as to be actually capable of tabooing
for years one of her greatest men simply and solely
because he claims descent from the ancient Chaldean
warrior princes of Palestine, and holds fast by the
faith of his fathers.
There are a great many most excellent institutions
and customs in Germany, more particularly in Prussia;
but it must be confessed that there are also a great
many glaring abuses and defects blotting the political
and social system of the land; and this extremely
stupid professed prejudice against Jews is assuredly
one of the most glaring of these blots.
When King Frederick William III. appealed to his
people in 1813, his Jewish subjects obeyed the call
with the same alacrity as the followers of Christ, and
fought as bravely and as welL
A few years after, in 1817, a Jew, bearing the
unmistakable name of Joshua Aaron, who had greatly
distinguished himself in the war of liberation, and who
felt strong within him the fierce spirit of his illus-
trious ancestors, presented himself before the exami-
nation commission with a modest I'eqnest to allow
him to pass bis examination for an officer's commission
in the ixrmy.
Licutcuaut-Uenorat von Holtzundorff, the president
Google
Men who have made the
of the commission, stood literally aghast at the
Jew's impertinence. He rushed incontinently into
the king's presence to shock his majeHty'a reformed
Christian ears witii the dire report. What 1 a Jew
wanting to be an officer in his majesty's forces!
The thought was madnesa The horrified monarch at
once issued an order sternly prohibiting the children
of Israel &om daring to repeat Joshua Aaron's bold
experiment.
This was some sixty years ago, you will per-
haps say, and does not apply to the present time.
Well, some fourteen years ago, if my memory serves
me right, General Steinmetz, who is now a field-
marshal, obtained a somewhat unenviable notoriety
by issuing an order forbidding certain classes of men,
Jews among the number, to apply for officers' com-
missions in his division. I remember the case very
well, because poor Otto Hagen, the then editor of
the Insterburger Zeitung, got into sore trouble for
publishing the obnoxious Order in his paper; for
Steinmetz, having performed his good and heroic
deed in secret, blushed to find it fame, and came
down heavily upon the poor journalist for his
indiscretion.
At last, on the 3rd of July, 1869, a kind of Bill of
Eights and removal of religious and other disabilities
was passed, which, one would certainly have supposed,
ought to have rendered impossible the repetition of
such foolish tricks as those played by iSteinmetz
New German Empire. 13
and HoltzendurS But volenti nil difficile: when
a fool has made up his foolish mind to perpe-
trate an act of folly he is safe to succeed in his
purpose.
A Jewish gentleman, named Gottfried Hirsch,
having duly passed his examination, entered the
Prussian army in 1866 as a one-year volunteer. He
was present at the battle of Sadowa and Chlum,
where he distinguished himself by his cool bravery.
He served at the time in the famous division of
General Fransecky, to whose heroic endurance the
success of the day was mainly due. Well, in 1870
Gottfried Hirsch was called out again, and again -
he fought bravely throughout the campaign, but
especially in the desperate encounter before Belfort,
where General Werder gained his well-earned laurels.
Gottfried Hirsch aided might and main in achieving
the great and glorious result. Indeed, so brilliantly
did he distinguish himself that his captain and his
major, both of them Christian gentlemen, warmly
lecommended the brave sub-officer for a commission.
But if they expected to see Gottfried Hirsch soon
one of themselves, and if the man Gottfried Hirsch
himself indulged in the flattering thought, they calcu-
lated without their divisional commander, one Herr
von DebschtttZi who felt as horrified as Holtzendorff
had felt of old at the audacious presumption of a Jew
wanting to be an ofl&cer I
This excellent Herr von Debschlltz accordingly
II.;, Google
14 Men who have made the
sent back an indignant refusal to sanction the major's
and the captain's recommendation, accompanied bj a
remarkably stiff official intimation, that he must beg
never to be troubled again with recommendations of
Jewa for officers' commissions I
So Gottfried Hirsch, who, to say the least of it,
had certainly distinguished himself quite as much as
the sublime Debschiitz, whose name most likely would
never have been handed down to fame but for this
curious little episode, had to take his leave in his
old non-commissioned capacity, the stupid divisional
commander being left untouched and unreproved,
because poor old Hoon, with all his brilliant attain-
ments, and despite his real greatness, happened to be
just as brimful of foolish class prejudice as DebschUtz
himself; and Bismarck, with a multitude of hornets
swarming and buzzing about his ears, of course felt
reluctant to put his fingers into another nest of the
interesting insects. Well, luckily, Roon is gone at
last, and Kamecke is said to be pretty iree &om his
predecessor's foibles.
Still, such men as Holtzendorff, Steinmetz, Deb-
schUtz, Rood, and others of the same stamp, might
plead inveterate class prejudice in extenuation of
their ridiculous conduct. But what can possibly be
urged in excuse of the so-called Ultra- Liberal electors
in Prussia, who for a long time declined admitting the
candidature of Edward Lasker, pleading that they
must draw the line somewhere ; and that they
,_ ibyGoogIc
New German Empii'e.
sincerely believed they ought to draw it at Jews I
And, mark, not alone the provincial liberal con-
stituencies acted upon this almost incredibly stupid
notion, but the most highly intelligent first electoral
district of BerUn, the capital of intelligence, where
only the moat advanced champions of progress ever
have a chance of election, repeatedly rejected Lasker
the Jew for infinitely smaller men of the Christian
persuasion. Yet many of the electors of this first
district would be angry indeed if their freedom fit»m
all religious prejudice and superstitious taint were
called in question.
So it was only in March, 1865, when Professor
Temme resigned his seat in the Prussian parliament,
that Edward Lasker was at last chosen to represent
the fourth electoral district of Berlin.
On the 27th of March, 1865, the newly elected
deputy delivered his maiden speech. It was late in
the afternoon, and the house was more than tired — in
•fact, completely knocked up. ParUamentary practice
had not then of course polished Lasker's organ and
attuned it to the sensitive ears of his hearers ; there
was, it is said, even a little of the Jew dialect in his
enunciation. No wonder, then, that the maiden
speech, like our own Disraeli's, turned out anything
but a success.
Yet, strange to say, within a few brief months after,
Edward Lasker had overcome all drawbacks, and the
members of the house were placed in a position to
, I by Google
16 Men who have made the
freely and imgrudgingly admire the marrellously
clear intellect and the amazing extent of knowledge
of the new representative of the foarth electoral
district of Berlin. Iiasker had of course joined
the Progreaaists, and he fought his first great battles
under the venerable Waldeck, the supreme leader of
that fraction of the house.
With his clear head and lucid understanding,
Edward Lasker soon discovered that the Progressists,
with all their sincere honesty of purpose and their
undoubted high talents, were too closely wedded to
party prejudices and crotchets ever to lay down a
thoroughly intelligible and practical programme, and
to carry it out So when, after the great events of
1866, the first electoral district of Berlin sent him at
last into the new parliament, he seceded from the
Progressist fraction and became one of the chief
founders and leaders of the National Liberal party,
to which he continues to belong.
His secession from the Frogreasists, and hia open
declaration t^at the pasaing of the constitution of the
North German Confederation was of paramount im-
portance, and ought to override all party considera-
tions, cost him the confidence of his constituents.
However, this was a matter of very little importance
to him, as there were now plenty of conatituenciea
only too happy to secure the Jew Lasker for their
representative.
From that time forward it may be truthfully said
, I by Google
New Oerman Empire.
that no law of any importance, touching either the
Pmaaian kingdom, the North German Confederar
tiun, or the German empire, has been passed that
does not bear the stamp of Lasker'a mind. The
great tribune has, ever since 1866, honestly en-
deavoured to give the chancellor of the North
German Confederation and of the GermMi empire
his most powerful support
In the early part of last year Edward Laaker
rendered one of the most signal services to his
country by laying bare with a firm and unsparing
hand the cancer of corruption in the Ministry of
Commerce, that was threatening to eat into the
very heart of the official machinery of the state in
Fruesia. It would have been difficult indeed to
find another man equally fit for the delicate task,
and one so absolutely free from the remotest sus-
picion of taint as Lasker may honestly claim to be.
Although the Jew has been permitted at last to
find his way into parliament, the door of official
promotion is still kept jealously closed against him.
Yet after the removal of Lippe from the Ministry
of Justice, one would have thought Dr. Leonhardt,
Lippe's successor, would have been proud to push
a man like Laaker. But the great lawyer is still
left standing on the lowest steps of the ladder. The
city of Berlin, however, has bestowed upon him a
somewhat remunerative appointment. The state
would seem to find it difficult indeed to get rid of
VOL. II. c ,_,,ibyGoogk'
Men who have made the
ita aoti-Jewiah prejudices. It is very true that the
late Dr. Stahl, who was a Jew by birth, was per-
mitted to attain high office in the Prussian state ;
but then he had Manningized iiom the ancient faith,
and had become a shining light of ultra-orthodox
Prussian Protestantism of the most exclusive and
intolerant description. So the instance does not
apply to Lasker's case.
' In 1871 an anecdote was told in Berlin, and was
much commented upon at the time, as to how the
chancellor on the occasion of one of his meetings
with Lasker, having listened with rapt attention
to one of the great parUamentarian's lucid disqui-
sitions on a question of the day, had warmly shaken
hands with him, sajring, " My dear Herr Lasker, de-
cidedly we must be coUeagues one of these days."
To which Lasker was reported to have replied, " How
so, yo\ir highness ? Can it really be your intention
to return once more to the noble profession of the
law ? " What might have seemed a joke then, may,
perchance, now ere long acquire the substantial pro-
portions of a reality. It is well known that Bismarck
is entirely free from the narrow prejudices of his class.
Lasker certainly would make a very good minister of
justice, or, better still, an excellent home secretary.
In 1872, if my memory serves me right, the Law
Faculty of the University of Leipzig bestowed the
diploma of Honorary Doctor of Laws upon Edward
Lasker.
Digilized by Google
New German Empire.
FIELD-MARSHAL VON WRANGEL.
In the memoir of Biamarck, mention has been made
of a certain illuminated transparent scroll, seen hy
the writer in Elberfeld at the celebration of the
first anniversary of Sedan, recording the rearing of
the "noblest structore of the world's history," to
wit — the new German empire.
As the foimdation pillars of this noble edifice, the
scroll recited — Civiem, education, industry, intelli-
gence, order, faith, honour, loyalty, patriotism, dis-
cipline, duty, endurance, fortitude, active obedience,
valour.
It is as the typical representative — the very
incarnation, in fact — of many of these high qualities
that old Field-Marshal Wrangel finds a place assigned
him here among the makers of the new German
empire.
Whoever has attentively followed the victorious
career of the Prussian armies from 1864 to 1871, and
has intelligently endeavoured to trace the effects
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Men who hare made the
back to their causes, cannot but have been struck
with the large share which must be assigned in the
latter to the ingrained stern discipline, the deep sense
of duty, the tenacious endurance and fortitude in
doing and suffering, the intelligent, active obedience
(so very different from the mere stolid, passive
submission to the word of command found in certain
other continental armies), which have throughout
characterized the Prussian soldier.
Now these high qualities existed in the old Prussian
army long before Boon and Prince William had con-
ceived their reoi^anization plan, which was not
indeed intended to create a new soldiering spirit ; but
simply contemplated turning to the best and most
efficient account the splendid material in that line
already abundantly existing, and strenuously and
incessantly cultivated many long years by the old
school of officers dating from the great liberation war,
of whom Field-Marshal Wrangel may fairly be taken
as the prototype.
This tough old soldier, Frederick Henry Ernest
Coimt von Wrangel, was bom on the 13th of April,
1 784, at Stettin, in Pomerania. His education was
slightly defective, and although the popular notion
is founded in error, that the field-marahal is even
very indifferently up in High Dutch, and can express
himself with proper fluency only in Pomeranian
patois and in vernacular Berlin cockney, yet it is said
to be very questionable whether he could ever at
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any period of his career have passed the mildest
competitive examination in any but the rudimentary
branches of knowledge.
He certainly forms a curious contrast with such
men as Moltke, Rood, Goben, Voigts-Rhetz, Blu-
menthal, Sperling, Zastrow, Fransecky, Podbielski,
Wartenberg, HoUcben, and an almost innumerable
host of others of the same high class of brilliant
attainments.
At the very early age of twelve be entered the
military service of ius eountiy. However, the
regiment of dragoons in which he served was only
mobilised after the defeat of Jena, and he was full
twenty-three years of age before he had the first
opportunity afforded him of fleshing his maiden
sword. Of this opportunity he availed himself to
such excellent purpose in the campaign of 1807, more
particularly in the fight at Heilsberg, that the king
bestowed upon him the distiDguished military order
pour le inirite.
This order was originally created under the style
and title of Ordre de la G&nirosite, by Mar-
grave Frederick of Brandenburg, afterwards Elector
(Frederick III.) and King of Prussia (Frederick I.).
It was reorganized ia 1740 by King Frederick II.,
under the style and titie of Ordre pour le MSrite
Civil el Militaire. Subsequently, in 1810, King
Frederick William III. reorganized it anew as Ordre
du Merits Militaire. Frederick William IV. added_^
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Men who have made the
a civil clasB to it for eminent artists and distinguished
men of learning (Slst of May, 1842).
After the peace of Tikit the dragoon regiment in
which young Wrangel served was completely re-
organized, or, more correctly speaking, two new
regiments were formed out of its material. In
one of these, the East Prussian Cuirassiers, Wrangel
was appointed captain.
In the campaign of 1813, Captain Wrangel did
good service at Hainau, Liebertwolkwitz, and Leipzig,
for which he was raised to the rank of major.
In 1814 he first assisted in the blockade operations
round Luxemburg, then took a promiuent share in
the hard fighting in February. On the retreat to
Etoges he was complimented by Blucher upon the
excellent manner in which he had led his regiment
and kept his men in hand. He gained honourable
distinction also at Laon and Sezanne.
In short, wherever he appeared in the field he
showed himself a most valuable and efficient officer ;
BO in April of the same year (1814) he was promoted
to a Ueutenant-colonelcy, and made commander at the
same time of the 2nd West Prussian Regiment of
Dragoons.
This new regiment took no part in the campaign of
1815, which was always a very sore point with
Wrangel, who used to declare, with comic indignation,
that " old Blucher had no business to finish the matter
right sUck off at BeUe Alliance (Waterloo), thereby
New German Empire.
depriving a poor fellow of all chance of coming in for
his legitimate ahare of the elashing. He would like
to know what old Marshal Forward would have
Baid if he (Wraogel) had played him such a mean
trick as diat. Why, he would have sworn like a
trooper ; and so would he (Wrangel), only that
he knew he must not, as it was against the rules
of the service."
But though Wrangel thus took no part in the
camp^gn of 1815, he was promoted in the same year
to the rank of full colonel.
In 1821 he obtained the command of the 10th
Cavalry Brigade, and two years after, ere he had
reached his fortieth year, he was made major-
general.
In 1834 he was appointed commander of the 13th
Division. The bead-quarters of this division was at
MUnster, in Westphalia.
Three years after the whole of Rhineland-Westphalia
was plunged in sad rel^ous troubles ; for it is a
grievouB error to suppose that there were no di£Bculties
with the Ultramontane clergy in Prussia before the
days of Bismarck.
Even as early as 1837, the then Archbishop of
Colc^e (Droste-Vischering) tried his hand at
something like the same game Messieurs Forater,
Krementz, Martin, Ledochowski, and Melchers are
now trying their hardest to play against the imperial
government, to the greatest possible damage to the
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Men who have "made the
state, and the deepest injury to that very religion in
whose name and interest they profess to act.
Frederick WUliam III. was always very stiff in
matters touching the supremacy of the crown, and
he speedily made the recalcitrant archiepiacopal
dignitary feel that he was detenuined to submit to no
imperium in im/perio, to no self -assumed license on
the part of an antagonistic Roman estabhshment in
Protestant Prussia.
The Ultramontaniflts, who have never yet hesitated
to act wherever practicable upon the beautiful Jesuit
maxim, that where the end may seem good and
desirable, all means conducive to that end are equally
allowable, did their worst to support the archbishop's
falling cause by the argument of religious disturbance
and riot in Rhineland-Westphalia.
General Wrangel's position at MUnater was one of
very considerable difficulty, which required equally
deUcate and energetic handling. He showed himself
fully up to the occasion, however, and managed to
keep the province under his especial guardianship in
most excellent order.
It is said that he sent for the dignitaries of the
Roman Church in Westphalia, more especially in
MUnster, and that he addressed these gentlemen in
very good and unmistakably plain and intelligible
High Dutch, telling them that he should hold them,
collectively and individually, personally responsible for
all popular disturbances that should require the strong
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New German Empire.
hand to put them down. He was not going to shoot
down an ignorant, priest-ezcited, and misguided fanat-
ical mob in the Btreeta of Miinster, or elsewhere ; but
he would, with inexorable severity and unwavering
firmness, strike down the priestly plotters and wire-
pullers who were directing the moves of the pawns
in the game. He assured them that he would be as
good as his word, and they wisely believing him, the
dreaded troubles were nipped in the bud.
It was partly to reward him for the signal services
he had rendered the crown in this emergency that
Wrangel was made lieutenant-general in 1838.
The year after, he was appointed to the command of
the Ist Army Corps at Konigsberg, in Prussia. Here
his military bluntness, it would appear, led to a clash
with some of the high authorities of the province,
which induced the govemmeut to transfer him to the
command of the 2nd Army Corps at his own native '
city of Stettin.
In autonm, 1842, he commanded the evolutions of
fifty-six squadrons of cavalry, with thirty-two guns,
which took place near Berlin, before the late Emperor
Kicholas of Russia, who personally expressed to the
general his warmest approbation of the thorough
efficiency of the troops under his command. Three
years after King Frederick William TV. reviewed the
2nd Army Corps under Wrangcl's command. He
was so delighted with the splendid appearance of
the corps, that he prosented Wrangol with the
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26 Men who have made the
3rd Eegiment of CuirassierB as a mark of his royal
Batisfaction.
At the outbreak of the war between Gennany and
Denmark in 1848, General Wrangel was appointed
commander-in-chief of the Prussian and German
confederate forces, in which capacity he gained a
victory over the Danes at Schleswig on the 23rd of
April, 1848. He subsequently invaded Jutland, but
the war was conducted languidly by Prussia, and the
authorities in Berlin did everything to impede and
thwart the military operations in the Elbe Duchies
and in Jutland. So Wrangel was glad indeed when
he was appointed commander-in-chief in the Marches
in September, 1848.
It had at that time become perfectly clear that
the revolutionary party, who had so easily suc-
ceeded in the spring of the year in overthrowing
the old absolutist government, had pjayed their
cards badly ever since, and had now finally lost
the game ; and the only question was how to trium-
phantly lead the inevitable reaction back to Berlin
without incurring the risk of those deplorable scenes
of bloodshed and cruel oppression which, unhappily,
but too often attend " victories " of this nature.
The task required a man of proved ener^ and
good sense, with a certain amount of kindly feeling
in him.
Wrangel was selected for the post, and a better
choice could hardly have been made.
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New Gei^man Empire.
Having carefully made all necessary preparations,
and collected a sufficient military force to make the
utter futility of attempted resistance perfectly clear
to the common sense of all but the most exalted of
the revolutionary leaders, the general marched into
Berlin on the 9th of November, 1848, proclaiming
the state of siege. He speedily restored the authority
of the government, without disgracing his name
and fame by the establishment of murdering courts-
martial and Satory shambles.
For his eminent services on this critical occasion,
King Frederick William IV. made him general of
cavalry, and conferred upon him, in addition to his
command in the Marches, also the command-in-chief
of the 3rd Army Corps.
In 1856 General Wrangel celebrated the sixtieth
anniversary of his service in the Prussian army, on
which occasion he was raised to the highest military
rank of field-marshal (15th of August). The honour
thus conferred was the more distinguished, as Field-
Marshal Wrangel was then the only officer of that
highest rank in the Prussian army (Prince Charles,
the king's brother, was Master-General of the Ordnance,
and Prince William, the present German emperor,
was Colonel-General of Infantry, two high military
charges held to rank equal with the field-marshalate).
In 1864, when the war broke out between Austria
and Prussia and Denmark, Wrangel, then eighty
years old, took the command of the allied Prussian
Men who have jnade the
and Austrian forces. He retained it till after the
storming of DUppel, when he asked to retire on
account of hie great age. He had, in fact, originally
accepted the proffered command with reluctance ;
but these were the days when venerable age was
still, occasionally at least, thought an indispensable
condition in a commander of the forces in the field.
The subjoined historic reminiscence may serve to
show how far this strange notion was occasionally
carried : —
In 1813, when the question was mooted of ap-
pointing General BlUcher to the command of the
Silesian army, there were objections urged on the
king from all sides against the proposed appointment,
some declaring the general to be a man of over-
sanguine disposition, and much given to boldness,
bordering dangerously on temerity ; others that he
was too old and too cautious (!), and too much given
to act upon the advice of others. But the strangest
objection urged against him certainly was, that he
was too young, the general being about seventy-one
at the time.
Old Field-Marshal Mollendorf, a veteran then
nigh upon ninety years old, felt particularly sore
upon the excessive juvenility of General Blilcher.
" Sir ! " he exclaimed to a high oflScer with whom he
was discussing the appointment, then just completed,
of the general to the command of the Silesian army —
"Sirl the service is going to the dogs — to the dogs,
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New German Empire. 29
sir, I say. What but defeat and disgrace can be
expected in the field when they intrust high command
to a mere youth like Blucher ? "
Tt must be admitted, however, that in stiff old
Mollendorf's notion General BlUcher had at the time
only had twenty-six years' service in the army.
Captain BlUcher had been passed over in a promo-
tion by Frederick II., a younger and by no means
a meritorious officer having, thanks to his powerful
family influence, been made major over Blttcher's
head. This had led to the fiery captain's resignation
of his commission (in 1772) ; and it was only in 1787
that Frederick II.'s successor, Frederick William II.,
succeeded in inducing BlUcher to re-enter the service
as major.
In the instance of the Dano-German war, moreover ,
Wrangel was the only officer whose appointment to
the chief command would not be likely to rouse
international jealousies and heariiburntngs between
the allies.
With his resignation of the command of the allied
forces in the Elbe Duchies, Field-Marshal von
Wrangel, though still nominally retaining his seat
in the state council and the chief command in the
Marches, with the govemorahip of Berlin, may be
said to have retired fii^im the political and military
stage, but certainly not from the busy scenes of active
life, in which even now, with the snow of ninety
winters upon his brow, he is found to the fore.
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30 Men who have made the
In 1866, when the war between PruBsia and the
AuBtro-Gennan coalition broke out, nothing would
satisfy the old man but be must accompany the army
to the field — as a volunteer !
The writer remembers having seen the green old
man on one occasion at Nachod, in the military
boEf>itaI, where he was dispensing kind words of
83rmpathy and encoun^ment, and trifling money
gifts to the unhappy wounded.
The writer saw him again on the 20th of Septem-
ber, the day of the triumphant entry of the Prussian
army into Beriin, high on horse, firm in the saddle,
riding with the nerve and skill of an accomplished
young cavalier, and gallantly blowing kisses to every
pretty girl his lively eyes could espy in his ride along
the Linden.
And five years after, in 1871, the well-nigh nona-
genarian was still to the fore, on horseback, and still
gallantly blowing kisses !
In January, 1872, the late Count Bemstorff, then
German ambassador to the Court of St. James's, made
a temporary stay at Berlin, where he had taken up
his quarters at the H6tel Royal. Here the old
field-marshal paid the count a friendly visit He
came on foot It was one of the coldest winter
days — something like twenty degrees of cold. Yet
there the old man was in his thin military undress
coat, without great-coat or wrapper about him, and
with his spiked helmet, which must really beg^n
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New German Empire.
to weigh heavy upon his head, tightly fixed on
as usual
The day after, he went to visit the crown prince,
this time in an open caiiiage, in which he might be
seen sitting stiff and grim, with the same scanty pro-
tection against the cold as the day before, yet
apparently not the least heeding the cutting, icy
wind blowing right through him I
His last public appearance was at the funeral of
the late Queen Dowager Elizabeth, when he is said to
have looked just the least little bit shaky, but for
all that, likely to live long enough to add another
instance in confutation of the anti-centenarian
theory.
Field-Marshal Wrangel is Knight and Chancellor
of the Order of the Black Eagle in briUiante, Knight
of the Order of St. John, of the Ordre pour le MSrite,
and a heap of others too numerous to mention ; Chief
of the East Prussian Cuirassier Regiment, No. 3, and
of the Brandenbui^ Fusilier Regiment, No. 35 ; pro-
prietor of the Imperial and Eoyal Austrian 2nd
Regiment of Dragoons, and of the Imperial Russian
33rd Infantry Regiment He had only one son,
Frederick, bom in 1821, who died in 1867, leaving
an only son behind, Gustavus von Wrangel, bom
the 21st of October, 1847, who is now an officer in
the Prussian army.
On the 13th of April last, Field-Marshal Wrangel
celebrated his ninetieth birthday, when he is reported
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Men who have made the
to have looked as green and as jolly as ever. The
emperor and empress, the crown prince, and all the
princes of the royal house, the ministers, &e., and
the mnnicipal council of the city of Berlin sent
their hearty congratulations to the veteran. Ob-
serving that one of the members of the municipal
council, who came with the burgomaster to present
the congratulations of the city, did not look quite
well, " My dear sir," said green old ninety, " you
m\ist take care of yourself. I hope you will be in
better trim when you are deputed again next year
upon the same pleasant errand to me," — ^taking it
as a matter of course that he would have to be con-
gratulated upon his ninety -first birthday! Where
does the old man intend to stop ?
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New German Empire.
VI.
THE CROWN PRINCE OF PRUSSIA AND
GERMANY.
The arduous and perilous match for the great
" German Unity " stakes had to be played chiefly
on the battle-field. At least two out of the three
great military powers of Europe had to be over-
thrown by Prussia and cleared off the ground ere
the foundations of the new German empire could be
securely laid. The accomplishment of this feat re-
quired the highest military leadership.
Kow Prussia had, indeed, an almost incalculable
advant^e on her side in the stupendous struggles
with Austria and France, in the possession of the
greatest military strategist the world has ever yet
seen. Still, this was not of itself sufficient to secure
victory to her arms. War nowadays is a game of
the nicest combination — every possible contingency
had to be foreseen and provided for, and it is indis-
pensable to be equally armed at all points.
The supreme chief and leader of the host may be
a strategist of transcendent genius, yet to secure the
VOL. II. D Google
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success of his plans he requires the support of a suf-
ficient number of sub-leaders of the highest tactical
ability. Failure on the part of even only one of the
sub-leaders may seriously compromise, if not altogether
imperil, the whole plan of campaign.
The defeats of Oudinot and Ney at Grossbeeren
and Dennewitz more than counterbalanced Napoleon's
half-victories .of Bautzen and Liitzen — Macdonald's
defeat at the Katzbach overthrew all the emperor's
Ingenious combinations. Vandamme's blunder at
Kulm made Napoleon lose all the prospective brilliant
finiitfl of his great victory at Dresden over Schwarzen-
berg, and Marmont and Macdonald's failure at
Mockem decided the defeat of the French at Leipzig.
Moltke has enjoyed, in his two great campaigns,
the singular — one would almost be tempted to say f^e
phenomenal — good luck of being supported through-
out by military commanders of the highest ability,
who always thoroughly understood their instractions,
and knew how to carry them out most effectively.
Indeed, with the single exception of Bonin's blunder-
ing at Trautenau, the work intrusted to the tactical
leaders of the Prussian and German host in the
Austro- and Franco-German campaigns of 1866 and
1870-71 was neatly and cleverly done throughout,
though partial faUuro might perhaps be imputed alone
to Herwarth von Bittenfeld and ManteuffeL The
tactical leaders of the Prussian and German armies in
the two great wars are therefore justly entitled to
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New Qerman Empire.
claim a place among the men who have made the
new German empire. The principal of these leaders
are the Crown Prince of Prussia and Gennany, Prince,
Frederick Charles, Kin g Albert of Saiony, General
Vc^l von FalckenBtein, Field-Marshals Herwarth von
Bittenfeld, Steinmetz, and Manteuffel, General von
der Tann, and Generals von Goben and Werder.
First and foremost among these ranks the Crown
Prince of Prussia and Germany, not because he
happens to be the heir apparent of the Emperor
William, but simply because he is reaUy the greatest
and most genial of the German generals — with the
single exception, perhaps, of the great Vogel von
Falckenstein, who affords a most rare combination of
the highest strategic genius with the highest tactical
ability.
The house of HohenzoUem is one of the oldest and
most renowned houses in Europe. The HohenzoUems
trace their origin back to the end of the eighth century,
when, as family tradition avers, Count Thassilo, one
of the Suabian magnates of the time, built the strong
castle of Zoire, upon the summit of the Zolrenberg or
Zollemberg, which lies about an English mile south
of the present town of Hechingen. The ZoUemberg
rises 2,663 feet above the level of the sea, and about
900 feet above the level of the city of Hechingen.
One tradition, as just now mentioned, attributes the
building of the castle to Count Thassilo; another
tradition, which may claim a safer foundation, says
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86 Men who have inade the
the caatle waa erected in the eleventh century. The
old chapel of St. Michael, which exists to the present
day, forming part of tie caatle, belongs to the style of
architecture of that century. In fact, it was in the
eleventh century that the Counts of Zolre were first
heard of in history.
Burchard and Wenceslas of Zolre were slain in
1061, in the troubles which distracted poor Germany
during the minority of Henry IV. From Burchard
descended Frederick I. of Zolre, who was the ancestor
of the first Zollern Burgraves of NUraberg. Frederick
III. of Zolre was one of the most intimate friends and
councillors of the Emperor Barbarossa and Heniy VI.
He erased Sophy of Eiitz, daughter of Conrad, last
Burgrave of Numberg, of the Austrian family of
Katz. Sophy brought her husband, besides the
burgraveship, the rich allodial possessions of the Ratz
&mily in Austria and in Franconia. As Burgrave of
NUmberg this Frederick III. is called Frederick I.
In the old documenta of the period he figures first
as burgrave on the 8th of July, 1192. He left two
sons, Frederick II. (1218) and Conrad I. (1230), who,
according to the custom of these old times, enjoyed
their paternal estates in common, and were both of
them jointly Counts of Zolre and Burgraves of NUm-
berg. It waa only eight years after Frederick's
death, in 1226, that Conrad divided the estates with
his nephew.
There were now two distinct lines of Zollem, the
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New German Empire. 37
Suabian and the Franconian. Conrad, of the Fraa-
conian line, was the first ZoUeru who styled himself
simply Burgrave of Ntimberg. His son, Frederick
lU., married Elizabeth, one of the aJIodial heiresses
of the last Count of Meran, who brought her husband
the greater portion of the Meran estates, more particu-
larly Baireuth, with its rich mines.
From the earliest times of their known history the
Zollems have been famous for their frugal lives and
their wise economy. Frederick III. was therefore
already possessed of much cash, which the proceed^
of the Baireuth mines increased considerably. He
was mainly instrumental, in conjunction with Arch-
bishop Werner of Mayence, in placing Rudolph
of Hapaburg (Hawksburg) upon Jthe imperial
throne of Germany (1273). He was also mainly
instrumental in inflicting the crushing defeat of the
Marchfield upon the Bohemians and their King
Odoaker, or Ottokar (1278). He bore the banner
of the empire in this battle. Some historians assert
tliat the Emperor Rudolph had promised to bestow
the Austrian Duchies upon him, which the death of
Frederick of Austria, basely butchered, together with
Conradin of Hohenstaufen, by tiie monster Charles
of Anjou, had rendered vacant.
However this may be, Rudolph thought better of
it, and gave fair Austria, with Styria and Camiola,
to bis own sons, indemnifying the buigrave for the
disappointment of his brilliant hopes by bestowing
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Men who have made the
upon him a considerable number of estates and
privileges, to whicb that wise and far-seeing prince
added many more estates, purchased with the fruits
of his own and his ancestors' wise economy. He
died iu 1297. His son and second successor, Frede-
rick IV., continued the same policy. He cleverly
used the necessities of the Emperors Albrecht, Henry
Vn., and Louis the Bavarian, to increase his posses-
sions and strengthen his inBuence. He bought
Ansbach of Count CEttingen, and many other towns,
castles, and estates. He was the most powerful
djmast in Franconia. Frederick V., caUed the Con-
queror, largely increased the possessions of the Fran-
conian branch of the Hohenzollems, and prevailed
at last upon the Emperor Charles IV. to raise him to
the highest dignity of an hereditary prince of the
empire. His son, Frederick VI., lent the Emperor
Sigismund a large sum of money, for which the
emperor gave him the Electorate of Brandenburg,
at first in pledge (1411), but a few years after, in
1415, upon a further advance of cash, in full legiti-
mate possession. The purchase-money amounted alto-
gether to 60,0002., a most moderate sum, even making
the fullest allowance for the high value of money
in the early part of the fifteenth century. As first
Elector of Brandenburg of the house of Hohenzol-
lem, Frederick VI., Burgrave of Niimberg, ranks as
Frederick I. He was one of the shrewdest men of
the age. Not content with his new acquisition, he
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New German Empire.
aspired actually to acquire the Electorate of Saze in
addition to it ; but bo soon as he found the matter
more difficult and perilous than he had anticipated
he wisely withdrew. After the death of the Emperor
Sigismund he put himself forward as a candidate for
the imperial throne, with very fair chances of success
at first ; but when the Archbishop of Mayence began
to exert his powerful influence in favour of Albrecht
of Austria, the son-in-law of the late emperor, the
Elector of Brandenburg gracefully abandoned his pre-
tensions, and spent the money which he had intended
to bestow in electoral manceuvres upon the acquisition
of a number of additional estates. He died in 1440.
Some eight years after his removal to the banks of
the Spree, the old ancestral castle of the HohenzoUems
came to grief It was taken on the 8th of May,
1423, by the league of tiie Suabian cities, and was
demolished, with the exception of the Chapd of St.
Michael The castle was rebuilt some thirty years
after, the foundation stone being laid by Mai^rave
Albrecht of Brandenburg on the 24th of May, 1454.
Being considered a point of the greatest strategic
importance, it was repeatedly besieged and taken in
the course of the Thirty Tears' War by the Swedes
and by the Wiirtembergers, and was in the end
demolished, with the exception of the chapeL King
Frederick William IV., with his mediaeval predilec-
tions, had the castle rebuilt in the style of tiie
fourteenth century, llie famous architect Stiller
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Men who have made the
designed the plan of the building. It was begun
in 1850, and completed iu 1855. It is a magnificent
royal castle, with five towers, and contains, besides
the restored old Catholic chapel, an elegant small
Evangelical church. It was strongly fortified by
General Prittnitz, and fiiUy armed in 1856. The
notion of usmg it as a fortified place has, however,
been abandoned since, and no garrison has ever been
sent to it.
Nearly all the successors of Frederick I. in the
Electorate of Brandenburg were men of considerable
ability. Even George WiUiam, the father and pre-
decessor of the great elector, who is generally repre-
sented by historians as a weak and vacillating prince,
managed, with singular prudence and success, to keep
his electorate comparatively free from the worst
plagues and terrors of the Thirty Years' War, and to
hold aloft the banner of the Beformation. All these
princes added more or less to the possessions of the
house, until the eleventh successor of the first Frede-
rick (Frederick III. of Brandenburg) found himself
actually powerful enough to place the royal crown of
Prussia on his head. This was King Frederick I. of
Prussia, twelfth Elector of Brandenburg of tlie
Hohenzollem line. The Emperor William is his
sixth successor.
The Crown Prince is the eighteenth in the line of
succession from the Elector Frederick I. Of the
eighteen Hohenzollem princes who have precedeil
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New German Empire.
him, five at least may be truly called great men, to
wit, the first Frederick, the founder of the line, the
great elector. King Frederick William I., King
Frederick IL, and the Emperor William. To say,
then, that the Crown Prince fairly promises to be
the greatest of all HohenzoUems may seem extra-
vagant praise. The brief sketch of the Crown
Prince's past career, which it is intended to give
here, will show, however, that the fjict simply is so.
Frederick William Nicholas Charles, Crown Prince
of the German Empire and of Prussia ; Field-
Marehal-General, Inspector-General of the Fourth
Inspection of the Army of the German Empire ;
Field-Marshal-General in Russia; Chief of the Ist
Grenadier Regiment Crown Prince, of the 5th West-
phalian Infantry Regiment, and the 2nd Silesian
Dragoons ; First Commander of the Ist (Berlin)
Battalion of the Landwehr Guards; attached
to the Ist Regiment of Foot Guai-ds, and to the
2nd Regiment of Silesian Grenadiers ; Chief of the
11th Regiment of Russian Hussars (Isum) ; pro-
prietor of the Austrian Infantry Regiment, No, 20 ;
Lord-Lieutenant of Pomcrania ; Doctor and Rector
of the University of Konigsberg ; Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of Germany ; Knight Grand
Cross of the Iron Cross of the high Military Ordre
pour le MSrite, Ac, and member of the honourable
craft of Typos, was born on the 18th of October,
1831, at the new palace in Potsdam, He is the
i.dbyGoogle
Men who have made the
eldest and only son of the Emperor William and the
Empress Marie Louise Augusta Catherina, one of the
daughters of the late Grand Duke Charles Frederick
of Saxe- Weimar. His only sister, Princess Louise
Marie Elizabeth, bom the Sth of December, 1838,
was married on the 20th of September, 1856, to
Frederick William Louis, reigning Grand Duke of
Baden. Like all the princes of the royal house of
Hohenzollem, the young prince had to embrace the
military career from his earliest boyhood. His uncle
— the then Crown Prince, afterwards King Frederick
William IV. — ^had been married since 1823. How-
ever, as direct issue from this marriage seemed very
doubtful, the young prince was most carefully
educated, with a view to his ultimate accession to
the throne. He had the best masters in every
department of learning, and be amply requited their
labour and care by the most unwearying diligence
and industry. It is not too much to say that there
is barely a branch of human lore in which the
Crown Prince of Prussia does not excel History
he has made his special study, and it may be
fairly hoped that Germany and the world will one
day reap the benefit of the lessons inculcated by
that study. He is a doctor of the University of
Konigsberg, of which university he is also rector. ,
History tells us that the Persian princes of old
used to be taught some handicraft, so that they
might not be quite helpless in the not altogether
ogle
New German Empire.
impossible event of their being driven into exile
and misery. The royal house of HohenzoUem has
always acted upon the same wise rule. At the
age of fourteen, Prince Frederick William chose
typography for his trade. He learned the business
practically at Hfienel's Royal Printing Office in Berlin,
and it is said that he is a first-rate compositor.
Some years ago the writer met one of Hsenel's old
hands at the office of the Elher/eldes Zeitung, who
told him that he had had the distinguished honour
of setting up a triglot book (German, Greek, and
Latin) jointly with his royal highness, and that he
had found it no easy task to hold hia own against
his exalted competitor ; so that the Crown Prince
of Prus^ wiU not find himself thrown helpless
upon the world and without resources, even should
the French communiata, the Marzes, Hasenklevers,
Bebels, Mendes, &c., of Germany, and our own
radical reformers ever succeed in sweeping away
the old fabric of society.
The young prince led a quiet, studious life,
diligently preparing himself for his high vocation.
His name has never figured in the Chronigue scan-
daieuse. In &ct, except in court and military circles,
it was hfudly ever prominently mentioned ; although
aU who had the happiness of coming in contact
with him spoke enthusiastically of the kindliness
of his disposition, Ws fiiunk cordiality, his simple
and unassuming manners, his vast and varied know-
L.i.n.KibyGoogle
Men who have made the
ledge, and the charm of his society and conver-
sation. On the 28th of January, 1858, he married
Victoria, Princess Royal of England — a happy union
in more than one respect, but more particularly as
forming a new fast bond between the two great
Protestant powers of the world, and the two
natural champions of the safe and gradual develop-
ment of freedom of thought and conscience, and of
political, social, and religious liberty and progress-
The royal houses of England and of Prussia are
the two oldest houses in Europe. Our own Victoria
can trace her descent back to Egbert of Wessex,
and through him to the old Anglo-Saxon princes.
Prince Albert was also descended from a very
ancient and most renowned house, and the Guelphs
can go back to the Prankish Count Warin of
Altorf, who flourished in the time of Charlemagne,
and whose son Isenbrand had bestowed upon him
by his contemporaries the, in our view perhaps,
by no means flattering nickname of Whelp, or
young hound, on account, it is said, of his quarrel-
some and somewhat currish disposition. In those
days, however, when might was right and force was
law, the name might have been held in very different
estimation. At aU events, Isenbrand of Altorf had
his eldest son and heir christened Welp, or Welf
(Guelph), who figures in history as the first of the
name. We are justified, then, in saying that the
royal houses of England and of Prussia are indeed
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New German Empire.
the oldest houses in Europe. The descent claimed
by the houses of Hapsburg and Lorraln from the
Frankish Duke Eticho of Alsatia, who died about
the year 690, is very doubtful at the best, and the
Bourbons and Delmenhorst-Romauoffs date not very
far back, comparatively. We may also take some
pride and pleasure in the fact that the descendants
of our own beloved Queeu will one day rule over the
great German empire, and that the two countries,
united by the strong and lasting bond of com-
munity of religious faith and political interests, may
be expected to march together for centuries to come
at the head of Europe in the path of progress and
enlightenment.
In the year 1864 the Crown Prince had the first
opportunity afforded him of gathering actual mili-
tary experience on the battle-field. He had then
reached the grade of lieutenant-general, and com-
manded the first infantry division of the Guards.
His position in the Dano-German war was, however,
almost purely observant, the chief command being
intrusted to Field-Marshal Wrangel, and subsequently,
after the resignation of that commander, to the Crown
Prince's cousin, Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia.
It was two ye-ars after, in 1866, that the
Crown Prince was permitted to appear on the field
as a leader of armies, and to afford the world bril-
liant proof of his high military genius.
The Prusso-Gcrman war was certainly not of his
,_,dbyGoogle
Men uAo fiave made the
Beeking, nor of hia liking. He looked upon that
war aa a fratricidal contest, and there was a strong
feeling m him of honourable repugnance to imbrue
his hands in the blood of his German brethren.
Moreover, it may be taken for granted that he was
sincerely opposed at the time to Bismarck and his
policy. The great minister had not yet been able
to show to the world the trae side of his character,
and to reveal the true tendency of his political ideas
wishes, and aspirations.
Heirs to the crown are proverbially apt to pro-
fess unbounded liberalism, though, as a rule, their
conduct after they have come to the throne is
equally apt to give the lie to their former profes-
sions. Now, indeed, the case is very different with
the Imperial Crown Prince of Germany. Although
he is in his forty-third year, it would be difficult
indeed to say, fi^m any " professions " ever made by
him, what hie true political creed may happen to be.
He has always scrupulously abstained from all inter-
ference in state matters — at all events, from all overt
interference. His profound filial piety and his un-
bounded reverence for his great father, who is known
to be jealously tenacious of his supreme power, have
always sufficed to suppress all outward manifestations
at least of any antagonistic feeling he might harbour
against that father's policy. So it would appear a
very difficult question to decide whether the Crown
Prince's political leanings and tendencies are liberal
,.,-ibyGooglc
New German Empire. 47
or otherwise. But it is known that in his religious
belief he is an advanced member of the Reformed
Church, of large and enlightened views on all
questions of faith, and a most uncompromising foe
equally to popery and Romish pretensions and
superstitions, and to Muckerdom and " evangelical "
bigotry, from which even men like Roon and the great
Moltke are not absolutely free. The Crown Prince
has not the slightest pietistic taint in his compo-
^tion. He is also a freemason — not one who simply
plays at freemasonry, but an earnest, sincere, and
active brother of the craft He is Grand Master of
the Prussian Lodges and of the Grand Land Lodge
of Germany. The latter celebrated its first cen-
tenary on the 24th of June, 1870, on which occasion
the Crown Prince, in his capacity of master of the
order and representative of the protector of the
lodges — his father the king — delivered a remarkable
address, to which we shall have occasion to recur
more at length in the course of this memoir, when
it will be clearly seen lliat the large views and
enlightened sentiments of the speaker would be
altogether incompatible with his holding narrow poli-
tical ideas, and being chained to mediseval, illiberal,
feudalist, and absolutiBt notions and principles.
However, be this as it may, this much is certain,
that the Crown Prince did not like the projected
war against Austria and the German Confederation.
The anecdote-mongers of the time made capital out
■ Google
48 Men who have made the
of the prince's patent repugnance to the' war : they
invented a cock-and-bull story about a Btormy
encounter between the prince and Bismarck in
presence of the king, in which the minister was
stated to have actually advised his majesty to
send his royal highness to the fortress of Spandau 1
It need hardly be stated that there was not a
semblance of foundation for this pretty little tale.
The Crown Prince's honourable repugnance to the
war never rose to such a height or intensity as the
"story" would indicate. Any difference of opinion
on his part anent the "propriety" of the intended
war notwithstanding, the Crown Prince nobly did
his duty to his king and country. There is also
every reason to believe that he soon learned to
appreciate more correctly the true position of affairs,
and the honesty and patriotism of his father's great
minister. It was even currently reported at the
time, that the Crown Prince and Bismarck had had
a meeting before the battle of Sadowa, at Miliutin,
in Bohemia, where a perfect and cordial understand-
ing was arrived at between the two eminent men.
It may safely be averred that this understanding
has never been disturbed since, and that the Crown
Prince has not a more loyal friend than Bismarck,
nor the great chancellor a more sincere admirer and
well-wisher than his imperial and royal highness.
The Austrian army, under the supreme command
of Feldzeugmeister (Master- General) Benedek (at
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New German Empire.
least nominally, although hot in reality, for the
emperor and his military cabinet were constantly
interfering with the plana of the commander-iD-
chief), consisted of the Ist, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th,
and 10th corps, numbering altogether some 200,000
men, with 762 gxins. Besides these forces, Benedek
could draw reinforcements from the garrisons of
Cracow, Olmiltz, Theresienstadt, Josephstadt, and
Koniggratz, numbering altogether close upon 60,000
men. And in the night of the 15th-16th of June
the SazoD army of some 40,000 ezceUent troops,
well found in every way and amply provided with
artUlery, crossed the Saxon frontier into Bohemia
and joined Beuedek's forces. Some 10,000 Austrions
had been sent also to swell the hosts of the German
Confederation, calculated in the rough at about
100,000 men.
Against this formidable hostUe array Baron
Moltke, the chief of the Prussian staff, had formed
four distinct armies, to wit, the so-called first army,
under the command of "Prince Frederick Charles,
consisting of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th corps of the
Prussian army, and one cavalry corps ; the so-called
second army, under the command of the Crown
Prince, consisting of the Guards, and the 1st, 5th,
and 6th corps of the army ; the army of the Elbe,
under the command of General Herwarth von Bit-
tenfeld, consisting of the 8th corps of the army,
the let division of the 7th corps, and a reserve
vol. n. E C.oogle
50 Men who have made the
corps of Landwehr ; and the army of the Main,
under the command of lieiieral Vogel von Falckon-
stein, consisting of the other division of the 7th
corps, the Prussian garrisons withdrawn from May-
ence and Rastatt, reservtis, and a variety of othL-r
troops.
The Crown Prince was the youngest of the four
chief commanders of the Prussian forces, his cousin
Frederick Charles being his senior I)y three years.
To him was intrusted the arduous task of leading
his army through the so-called three gateways to
Bohemia — the mountain defiles of Trautenau,
Braunau, and Nachod.
He collected his forces in a camp round the
strong fortress of Neisse. On the 22nd of June
this camp was broken up. About noon that day
the writer had the plf'asure of listeuing to one of
the prince's most telling simple speeches, which was
delivered to the military and civil authorities of the
fortress and city of Neisse in the courtyard of the
War School Every word of that brief patriotic
address went home to the hearts of the hearers,
A series of elaborate manoeuvres, and marches
and counter-marches, intended to puzzle and mis-
lead the Austriaua in Bohemia, occupied the time
from the 23rd to the 26th June. On the evening
of that day the 6th corps, under General JIutius,
had taken up its position about Habelschwerdt, in
the Glatz district, which was then threatened by
New Geiinan. Empire. 51
the 2nd Austrian corps under Count Thun'a com-
mand. The Ist corps, under General Bonin'a com-
maad, waa ready to march into Bohemia through
the Trautenau defile. The Guards, under the com-
mand of Prince Augustus of Wurtemberg, through
the Braunau Pass ; and the 5th corps, under the
command of General Steinmetz, through the
Nachod defile. The 10th Austrian under the
command of General Gablentz, had been detached
by Benedek to guard Trautenau ; the 6th corps,
under the command of General Ramming, had
been directed to SkaUtz to protect Nachod ; and
the 8th corps, under the command of the Archduke
Leopold, to Jaromierz, to support Ramming in case
of need. Subsequently Benedek sent the 4th corps,
under the command of General Festetics, to the
same point.
On the morning of the 27tli of June the Guards
and the 1st and 5th corps eflfeeted their entry into
Bohemia through the tliree passes of Braunau,
Trautenau, and Nachod.
The comparative failure of the Ist corps, under
General Bonin, has been rehited in the memoir of
Moltke, so we need not further recur to it here.
The vanguard of the 5th corps, under the command
of General T,6wenfeld, had hardly passed the narrow
defile of Nachod into Bohemia when it found itself
confronted by vastly superior forces forming part
of the 6th Austrian corps under Ramming. A
Eiigi.KibyGoogle
52 Men who have made the
desperate struggle ensued. Two squadrons of Prussian
cavalry had to encounter the fierce onset of the
celebrated Windischgratz regiment of riders and of
another cuirassier regim 'tit The two squadrons
were ilriven back into the defile just at the very time
when the Prussian artillery waa somewhat slowly
and painfully wending its way through the pass.
This was a most critical moment. The Austrians
might have improved the advantage gained by them,
and crushed the small force under Lowenfcld, in
which case it might afterwards have been found
impracticable for the 5th Prussian corps to force
the pass.
It is related that it was General Steinmetz's
coolness and excellent tactical command which saved
the day.
But the writer heard another version of the afiair
at the time. He was told by some officers that at
the critical juncture when the Prussian cavalry had
just been swept back into the defile, the Crown Prince,
attended by General Blumenthal, his chief of the
fitafi', arrived on the spot, and that his royal highness
passed some severe strictures upon the curious tactics
of blocking up a narrow mountain defile with artillery
when it must seem of the utmost importance to push
the infantry and cavalry through ; but his highness
forbore adding another word the instant he waa in-
formed that the general commanding the corps waa
responsible for the arrangement.
L.i.n.KibyGoogle
New German Empire.
His royal liighness dismounted, clambered over the
guns, made bis way to the frout, ordered the artillery
back, pushed a few battalioos of infantry rapidly
throQgh the cleared pass, and ordered them to occupy
certain commanding knolls at the Bohemian outlet
of the defile, with instructions to hold and defend
these positions to the last extremity. Battalion after
battalion of infantry was then marched through the
pass in the moat beautiful order. Two regiments of
cavalry followed, which made short work of the two
Austrian cuirassier regiments, whose two standards
were taken by the victorious Prussians.
Up to this time there had been considerable ap-
prehension in the Prussian army, lest their cavalry
should not be able to hold its own against the Aus-
trian crack riders. From the day of Naehod this
fear was dissipated for ever. The Austrian light
cavalry did not fare much better in subsequent en-
counters with the Prussians, although a distinguished
war correspondent of a leading English journal would
persist in scoring victory after victory for their com-
mander, Edelsheim — a pity only that every one of
these " victories " should have eventuated in a more or
less rapidly-accelerated retreat of the victorious forces.
Bo soon as the Prussians had once secured a fair
hold of the other side of the pass, the needle-gun
began to tell fearfully upon the Austrians. But it
was not this new formidable weapon alone which de-
cided the fate of the day ; it was also the bayonet
Google
Men who have viade the
The strong positions of the Austrians were carried
one after another, and in the evening of the day
Ramming found that his corps had sustained such
fearful losses in the desperate struggle that he woTild
be unable to hold Skalitz, the next station on the
Austrian line of defence, unless very largely rein-
forced.
The despatch to this effect, which he sent off in
the evening to the Austrian headquarters, was inter-
cepted by the Prussians. However, Archduke Leopold
came up to Ramming's aid with the 8th Austrian
corps from Jaromierz (subiurb of Josephstadt). The
two corps combined took up strong positions around
Skalitz, where they were attacked next day by the
5th Prussian corps under the command of the
Crown Prince and General Stcinmetz.
That corps had suffered much the day before at
Nachod, and the odda seemed largely in favour of the
Austrians, who greatly outnumbered the Prussians,
and had, besides, a large proportion of fresh troops
to oppose to their harassed and jaded assailants. But
the noble Poseners went into the fight undismayed ;
they drove the Austrians from all their strong posi-
tions, and carried ultimately the important stronghold
of the railway station, and the town of Skalitz. On
the evening of the 28th of June both the 6th and
the 8th Austrian corps might be considered fully
aceountod for.
On the same day, the 28th of June, 1866, the
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New German Empire.
Guards, under the command of Prince Augustus of
Wurtemberg, went in for their innings, and a pretty
game they played. Gablcntz, who had been victorious
the day before against Bonin and the 1st Prussian
coi-ps, had made his position at Trautenau as strong
as circumstances would admit ; he had also taken up
very strong positions at Alt-Rognitz, Neu-Rognitz,
and Burgersdorf,
When the Prussian Guards made their first onset
they found sixty-four Austrian guns opposed to twelve
of their own pieces, and they had the odds very much
against them, too, in infantry and cavalry. But the
men of this truly splendid corps carried everything
before them in fine style. They took the positions of
Burgersdorf and Alt-Rognitz, and finally carried
Trautenau by storm, despite the most desperate
resi.stancc of the enemy.
Of the magnificent 10th corps, which Gablentz had
led forth to battle on the morning of the 27th, to the
number of nigh upon 50,000 men, there remained on
the evening of the 28th only a mass of some 25,000
men that could claim to he considered anything like a
compact body.
On the 29th of June the same irresistible Prussian
Guards stormed Koniginhof {Dwor KrahtoS, Queen's
Court), a most important position. This opened the
way to a prosimate union of the second army, com-
manded by the Crown Prince, with the first army and
the Elbe army, under the command sevetally of Prince
Lin.KibyGoogle
Men who have -niade the
Frederick Charles and General Herwarth von Bittenfeld,
which had entered Bohemia from the side of Saxony,
and were fighting their way up to KoniggrStz.
On the same 29th day of June the 5tli Prussian
corps advanced from Skalitz upon SchweinschiLdel,
where a fresh Austrian corps, under the command of
tbs brave General Festetics, had taken up a strong
position. This corps, the 4th of the Austrian army,
shared the same fate with the 6tb, the 8th, and
the 10th. It was badly beaten.
The general commanding, Festetics, was so severely
wounded in dne of his legs, that the limb had to be
amputated. The operation had just been performed,
and the nerves of the poor sufferer were still writhing
with the pain of the saw slowly biting its way through
the acutely sensitive boue membrane, when the general
caught sight of his servant, a brave old Magyar
Honved, whose eyes were suffused with tears,
which the poor fellow tried to hide by turning his
face the other way. "Ah, you rascal," said Festetics,
with a good-humoured shake of bis finger at the old
soldier, " ah, you pretend to weep, when your heart
is actually leaping with joy at the happy thought that
you will now have only one boot to clean for your
maimed master."
On the 30th of June the 6th Pruasian- corps, under
the command of General Mutius, then one of the
most distinguished officers in the Prussian service, and
the heau idial of a pi'eux chevalier of ancient times,
Digilized by Google
New German Empire.
came up to join the 5th corps at Gradlitz. Poor
General Mutius, who a few days after did eminent
service at Sadowa, was not permitted to see the end
of this war. Soon after the battle of Koniggratz he
waa carried off by an attack of cholera.
The 6th, or Sileslau corps, which General Mutius
commanded, was then, as it continues to the present
day, one of the best in the Prussian army, and the
two sub-commanders at the time. Generals Zastrow
and Prondzynski, ranked even then already among
the most accomplished officers in the service.
On the same day that the union of the 5th and 6tb
corps was effected, the dragoons of the Guard, sent
on by Prince Frederick Charles to open communica-
tion with the second army, came upon the right wing
of that army, thus fuUy establishing the connection
between the two hosts.
Next day, the 1st of July, a section of the second
army reached Miliutin, or Miletin, where the famous
interview between the Crown Prince and Bismarck
is said to have taken place in the night from the Ist
to the 2nd of July. (This alleged meeting between
Bismarck and the Crown Prince is looked upon by
many as a mere historic fiction. The writer will not
undertake to decide whether it really did take place
or not. He can only say that at the time he heard
the statement repeatedly upon good authority.)
Benedek, half stunned by the great successes of the
three Prussian armies, now fairly established in the
, I by Google
58 Men who have made the
heart of Bohemia [the exploits of the first Prussian
army and the Elbe army will be foimd recorded in
the memoirs of Prince Frederick Charles and General
Herwarth von Bittenfeld], resolved to concentrate the
whole of his forces in a well-chosen position near
Koniggratz, and leaning upon that strong fortress.
Here the Austrian positions along the line of the
Bistritz were attacked early in the morning of the
3rd of July, at Sadowa, by Prince Frederick Charles,
at Przira and Nechanitz, by General Herwarth von
Bittenfeld.
In the memoirs of these two commanders we shall
have occasion to give a brief description of this part
of the operations. Suffice it here to state, that the
Elbe army made only slow progress on the left flank
of the attack, and that Prince Frederick Charles
fought desperately all tlie morning in the centre,
with but indifferent success upon the whole.
The prince had, in fact, occasion to wish by noon
for the advent of the Crown Prince on the right
flank, as ardently as Wellington wished for the
promised arrival of his Prussian allies at Waterloo.
It was, indeed, said at the time that Prince
Frederick Charles had rashly begun his attack
upon the Austrian positions in the centre two hours
too soon.
The Crown Prince, who had had to dispose first of
the corps of Legeditch, in his advance over Kukua,
and bad had to contend against formidable difficulties
,_, ikGoo^^lc
New Gei~man Empire. 59
of the road, arriyed at last ou the right flank in the
early part of the afteraoon.
With the eagle eye of the bom commander in the
field he took in the whole position at a glance. With
prompt decision he ordered the 6 th corps under
Mutiua to cross the Trotina brook, and two battalions
of the Guard to storm the hill of Chlum, which his
inborn military genius perceived to be the true key of
Benedek's position, instead of Sadowa, which Prince
Frederick Charles had been so fiercely assailing all the
morning.
Mutius executed the order given him with brilliant
success. He forced the passage of the Trotina, and
compelled Benedek to change and shift the position
of his right wing — in itself a difficult operation, and
a hazardous proceeding in the &ce of a brave and
skilful enemy.
The Guards, on their part, carried Chlum in fine
style, capturing some thirty Austrian pieces defending
the position, and killing most of the gunners at their
pieces. The two storming battalions lost fearfully.
Out of some 1,600 men, 884 were left on their way
up, killed or wounded. But the capture of Chlum de-
cided the fortune of the day.
The victorious Crown Prince was decorated on the
battle-field by his enraptured father with the highest
Prussian military order. Pour le MSrite.
Had Herwarth von Btttenfeld with the Elbe army
been as brilliantly successfiil as the Crown Prince, the
iiM.KibyGoogle
Men wfio have viade the
fate of Benedek's army had been sealed. The bulk of
it could barely have escaped capture; a few straggling
bands aloue might have found their way into Moravia.
(It must once more be observed here that the fault
was generally said at the time to have lain at the
door of Frederick Charles, and not of Herwarth von
Bittenfeld.)
Even as matters iictually stood, it is difficult to
account for the extreme laxness and supineness of the
Prussian pursuit of the defeated enemy.
After Waterloo the Prussians drove the fugitive
French before them in merciless, never-ceasing, never
even relaxing, chase throughout the fearful night of
the 18th-19th of June, hurling them in headlong
flight over the bridge, and through the village of
Genappe, through Quatre-Bras, and beyond Fraanes,
and leaving them at last to regain the left bank of
the Sambre only ae a thoroughly broken and dis-
organized mob ; whereas, after Koniggratz, the
defeated Austrians were almost tenderly left to a
comparatively safe retreat.
After Waterloo the British army was so thoroughly
exhausted by its stupendous toils and sufferings
during its Titanic struggle on that appalling field,
that it waa physically incapacitated for further
exertion in pursuit of the enemy. Jloreover, the
Prussians were quite fresh, and the pursuit might
well and safely be handed over to them.
But at KoniggTa.tz, although two out of the three
i,,,_,ih;,Goot^lc
New Qerman Empire.
Prussian armies engaged had severally suffered in the
long and arduous contest, and the third army, besides
some most severe fighting, had done much hard
marching that day, there surely remained some
reserve force to push the victory achieved to its
extremest consequences.
Dis aliter visum, it would appear, however : and
so Benedek was permitted to effect his retreat with
comparative ease.
Still the Austrian losses were enormous. Some 180
guns fell into the hands of the victors, and what with
killed, wounded, and prisoners, and the somewhat
laige item of missing, the day of KOniggratz cost
Benedek some 60,000 men.
Altogether the seven days' campaign had knocked
off more than one clear half of the powerful host
which a few brief weeks before had so proudly taken
the field.
Benedek was truly a great general. It may even
be left a moot question for future historians to discuss
whether the Bohemian campaign would have eventu-
ated as it did had the master-general been left per-
fectly free to act as he listed, and had be not had,
among other impediments, three archdukes thrown in
his path as sub-commanders, not to mention Thun
and Clam-GaUaa.
His retreat, at least, after the battle, was masterly.
He led the bulk of his forces in rapid marches side-
ways to Olmutz, leaving only the 10th corps, under
i.dbyGoogle
Men who have made the
Gablentz ; the Saxons, under Crown Prince Albert ;
three divisions of heavy cavah-y, and the light horse,
under Edelaheim, to proceed in the direction of
Vienna.
He expected to draw the whole Prussian army after
him. He was grievously disappointed, however, in
this expectation. Moltke simply directed the second
army, under the Crown Prince, to follow Benedek,
and pushed the first army, under Prince Frederick
Charles, rapidly on to Brunu, and the Elbe army,
under Herwarth von Bittenfeld, to Iglau, on the
direct road to Vienna.
Although the battle of Koniggi-atz had terminated
the famous seven days' Bohemian campaign of 1866,
the war continued a few weeks longer.
General La Marmora lisul disloyally communicated
to the French emperor the plan of campaign which
had been recommended to Italy by the chief of the
Prussian staff (through the Prussian ambassador to
the Italian court) — a plan which, taken in connection
with the Prussian convention with Klapka and other
Hungarian leaders, must have totally destroyed the
power of Austria had it been implicitly followed by
the Italian chiefs.
The immediate result of La Marmora's act
had been, that Louis Napoleon had urgently advised
the Emperor Francis Joseph to consent to the
cession of Venetia. The emperor had taken the
advice, and had thereby set free the Austrian army
i.dbyGoogle
New German Em^nre. 63
of the south, and its skilful commaniler, the victor
of Custozza.
The Archduke Albrecht, named by the emperor
commander-in-chief of the whole of the Austrian
forces, had given general Beuedek imperative orders
to leave Olmutz with the troops under hia command,
and endeavour to make his way to Florisdorf, to join
there in the defence of the Austrian capital
The Crown Prince had, as already stated, been
sent, with the greater part of the second army, after
Benedek.
The prince sent the cavalry division Hartmann and
the infantry division Malotki to Prerau to cut of
Benedek'a line of communication with Vienna, A
severe fight ensued, on the 15tb July, at Toljitscliau,
in which the Prussians, who had found before tbem
the 8th Austrian corps, suffered severely, but de-
feated the enemy with great loss. It was here that
the 8th Cuirassiers took twenty Austrian gmis in fire.
Large masses of troops {the 1st Austrian corps)
being observed in the act of marching off, General
Hartmann advanced at the head of eight squadrons
to reconnoitre. It was here where tlie Prussian forces,
having ventm-ed too far forward, ran considerable
risk of being cut off, and where their retreat was
so nobly covered by the regiment of hussars of the
Landwehr.
Benedek's line of march to Viemia was, however,
cut off at another important point — Lundenburg — on
.ogle
64 Men wlw have made tlie
the 16th of July, by Horn's division of the first
army, under eommund of Prince Frederick Charlea.
Benedek waa forced to cross over to the left bank
of the river March, and to try to make good his
retreat to Vienna over the lesser Carpathian moun-
tains. This retreat the Austrian general effected
successfully with consummate skill.
Soon after, the armistice and peace preliminaries
of Nikolsburg, followed by the treaty of Prague, put
an end to the war, leaving the Crown Prince free
to return once more to the enjoyment of his quiet
and happy family life.
On the 24th of June, 1870, the Grand Land Lodge
of Germany celebrated its first centenary. On this
occasion the Crown Prince, in his capacity of Grand
Master of the order and representative of the
protector of all Prussian lodges, his father the king,
delivered a remarkable address to the brethren
assembled, full of the noblest sentiments and the
largest and most liberal views, and breathing
throughout an exalted spirit of enlightenment.
He spoke of the lodge in its connection with the
Swedish Parent Lodge, from which it had sprung,
and with the Universal Lodge of St. John.
He pointed out to the brethren how, in the age of
general progress in which we were living, it was
indispensable that the venerable order should also
advance beyond certain antiquated notions, and, more
particularly, should not so persistently continue to
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New German F.mpii'e.
cultivate mystery aa had been the case through the
past
He invited the brethren to strive to the best of
their power and ability to shed the rays of the
higher intelligence and knowledge possessed by them
over a wider field than certain antiquated narrow
rules would now seem to allow. The entire tenor
of the prince's speech showed, in fact, that liberty,
progress, and enlightenment could have no warmer and
no more powerful champion than his royal highness.
A few weeks after the delivery of this address,
the CVown Prince had to tear himself away once
more from his household gods. France had rashly
declared war against Qermany, and the prince had
intrusted to him the chief command of one of the
three great armies directed upon France by Moltke,
and the leadership of the south German contingent
The Crown Prince left Berlin on the 26th of July
travelling by Leipzig, Mimich, Stuttgart, and Karl-
sruhe to the head-quarters of the third army. The
people received him everywhere with enthusiastic
acclamations. The manliness of his character, his
&ank cordiality, and his affable manner, quite firee
from all studied or ostentatious condescension, gained
him all hearts. The south German soldiers more
particularly, whom he came to lead against the here-
ditary enemy of the great Fatherland, were delighted
with him, and felt proud to be cx>mmanded by the
tme victor of Nachod, at least, and Chlum.
VOL. II. ij-ibyGoogle
Men who have made the
On the 2nd of August three French divisions, under
the personal eye of the Emperor Louis Napoleon,
had made a fierce onset upon the town of Saar-
brucken, the centre of the famous coal-basin, which,
if all the truth of the matter were fully known,
would have to be held chiefly responsible for the
outbreak of the Franco-German war. At least there
can hardly be a reasonable doubt that if Prussia
had consented to the cession, or even to the sale, of
these rich coal mines to France, the Hispano-Hohen-
zoUem imbroglio might have been peaceably settled.
The town was held by a few companies of the
HohenzoUem Fusiliers, who fought so bravely, and
with such consummate skill, that it took the as-
sailants several hours to force this handful of gallant
men to retreat at last
The telegraph had played strange pranks with this
very small military achievement, trumpeting it forth
to the world as a most signal French success, the
herald and pledge alike of many others to follow.
On the 4th of August, a little after five o'clock in
the morning, the Crown Prince of Prussia left Lan-
dau, attended by his staff and suite. The army
under his command had been directed to advance
upon "Weissenburg.
Weissenbui^ had always been held a point of
considerable importance, and some of the fiercest
fights had been fought for its possession in the
French revolutionary war.
Digilized by Google
AVttf German Empire.
On this occasion the city was occupied by the
division of General Abel Douay, who had tlie reputa-
tioD of being one of the best leaders of the French.
The division belonged to the corps of Marshal
M'Mahon, to whom two flukes, in the Crimea Mid at
Magenta, had given an exaggerated reputation of
high tactical skill. It numbered sixteen battalions
of very excellent infantry, among them two battalions
of Zouaves and one of Turcos, and had a numerous,
powerful, and well-served artillery.
The important eminence of the Gaisberg, which
commands Weissenburg from tie south side, had
been very strongly fortified, and was held by a large
body of troops.
A little after nine o'clock in the morning, the Crown
Prince arrived on the heights at the east of Schweigen,
just when the vanguard of the German division Both-
mer were making their first attack upon the city.
About half an hour or so later the l7th Infantry
Brigade (of the famous 5th corps, that had fought
80 well in 1866 at Nachod, Skalitz, Schweinschadel,
&c.), having crossed the Lauter, made its appearance
at St. Kemy and Wagh^usel, and proceeded to assault
the heights opposite.
Soon after, the 18th brigade of the same corps
took its position on the right of the l7th brigade,
attacked and carried Altenstadt, and, making its
■way to the southern bank of the Lauter, prepared
to attack the GaUberg.
F 2 ■ -.t^^oogle
Men who have made the
The 9th division having thus crossed the Lauter,
it became practicable to attack the town of Weissen-
burg also fixim the soutb-east Two battalions of the
57th regiment and one of the 58th were sent for-
ward from Altenstadt for the purpose of this opera-
tion. At twelve o'clock the town of Weissenburg
was vigorously assailed by these troops and by
Bothmer's division, and, after a desperate atruggle,
carried.
Half an hour later, the 18th Infantry Brigade, of
the 5th corps, and the 41st, of the 11th corps,
delivered a fierce assault upon the Gaisberg, the
King's Grenadier Regiment leading the van.
The Germans suffered severely, more especially
from the chassepot fire of the French tiraiUeurs, who
occupied the vineyards all around.
The superior carrying power of the chassepot, as
compared with that of the needle-gun, was made
clearly manifest here, whilst the much-vaunted mitrail-
leuses were found wanting.
The Prussian infantry, however, marched up the
steep heigbt steadily and without flinching, and
carried the fortified farm and the castle behind at
the first onset, despite the desperate resistance
opposed by the French.
At one o'clock in the afternoon the Gaisberg
had changed masters. Half an hour after, the
Crown Prince rode up the heights to express
to the noble infantry of the 5th and 11th corps
New Gentian Empire.
hig warmest acknowledgments of their undaunted
bravery.
The Gaisbei^ being the centre and key of the
French position, after its plucky capture by the
Gennans there was nothing left for the defeated
corps to do but to effect its retreat in an orderly,
manner. This the French succeeded in accomplish-
ing, moving off in three columns in a south-westerly
direction, pursued by the two cavalry regiments of
the 5th and 10th divisions.
General Douay had been killed in the fight. The
loss of the French amounted to some 1,200 killed
and wounded. The victorious Germans, whose losses
in killed and wounded were even more consider-
able (no wonder, considering the strength of the
positions captured and the superiority of the chasse-
pot over the needle-gun), captured some 1,000 un-
wounded prisoners, with thirty officers, the French
camp, baggage, kc, and one gun, taken by the 5th
battalion of rifies.
The capture of the Gaiabei^ and the lines of
Weissenburg was the first real dee'd of arms in the
campaign.
The day after the battle the Crown Prince advanced
to Sulz, to follow up his first success.
Marshal M'Mahon with his entire corps, reinforced
by divisions from De Failly and Canrobert's corps,
had taken up an advantageous position all along the
hilly ground surrounding the small town of Wiirth.
i.dbyGoogle
Men w?u> have ■made the
The village of Froschweiler formed the centre and
key of the French position. "
The Crown Prince had under his command the two
Bavarian corps, the "Wurtemberg division, and the
5th and 11th Prussian corps. The battle began at
nine in the morning, and lasted till night, though
Froschweiler had been carried before four o'clock in
the afternoon, by a combined attack of the Bava-
rians from the north, the PniBsians from tlie east
and the west, and the Wurtembei^rs from the
south.
The French army was totally routed. It suffered
enonnous losses in killed and wounded and war
material Six thousand unwounded prisoners, two
eagles, some thirty gtms, and six mitrailleuses fell
into the hands of the victors.
At Reichshofen the "Wurtemberg cavalry cut in
upon the French line of retreat and inflicted further
losses upon the fugitives, taking from them four guns,
vast military stores, &c.
The Germans also had suffered most severely, the
French having defended their positions with des-
perate bravcrj'.
Prussians, Bavarians, and Wurtembergers alike had
fought with the same steady determination.
When the Crown Prince took occasion, after the
victory, to express to the Bavarians his very particular
satisfaction with their admirable conduct in the battle,
a Bavarian sergeant told the prince it was all a
,_ ibyGoogle
Neu) German Empire.
question of leadership. " Under your royal highness's
command we can go anywhere and do anything," said
the simple-minded soldier ; then added naively, " Had
we been commanded by you in 1866, instead of by a
muflf, we flhould have given those Prussians the
greatest hiding they ever got ! " — a curious comment,
apparently, upon the union of all Germany, just
cemented on the battle-field.
The Crown Prince pursued his victory with the
most consummate sklLL He gave M'Mahon no
breathing time.
Besides, after the crushing defeat inflicted upon
General Frossard's corps at Spicheren, on the day
of the battle of Worth, by Generals Kameke and
Goben, the French marshal had really no chance
left him of making a successful stand anywhere on
the Alsatian side of the Vosgcs. So there re-
mained nothing for him to do but to save the
remnant of his army by a rapid retreat, and to
re-form it at the ChMona camp.
In the great Bohemian campaign of 1866 the
victories achieved by the Crown Prince were by
many entirely placed to the credit of General
Blumenthal, the Crown Prince's chief of the staff.
Now there can be no doubt that General Blumen-
thal ia one of the most highly accomplished
military leaders of the day ; in fact, he ranks im-
mediately after Moltke and Vogcl von Falekenstein,
with such men as Voigts-Rhetz, Stiehle, Goben, and
,_ ibyGoogle
72 Men wJio have nutde the
Werder. Notwithstaading, it would be gross in-
juBtice to say that he had organized the Crown
Prince's victories.
Blumenthal himself never advanced any such
pretension : he is a truly great man, who knows
that he need not covet the pahn justly belonging
to another. The writer has good reason to' know
that General Blumenthal often spoke with enthu-
^astic admiration of the high military genius
displayed by his royal chief lq the Bohemian
campaign.
The general, who is a thorough soldier every
inch of him, would occaaionally complain, indeed,
of what he was pleased to call the Crown Prince's
indolence in military pursuits. He even once wrote
a letter in English to this effect to his wife, who
is an English lady, which letter was xmfortunately
intercepted by the Austrians; who were mean
enough to publish a German translation of it.
With a smaller man than the Crown Prince, this
might have tended to produce a certain coldness
between the chief of the army and the chief of
the staff, Not so with the Crown Prince, who
quietly admitted to Blumenthal that he was quite
aware of his laxness and personal laziness in military
matters; but he must beg the general's indulgence
for his shortcomings in this respect, as he really
could not help it He did not like the occupation
sufficiently well to give his whole soul and mind
New German Empire. 73
to it. With this the matter was passed over, and
the cordial friendship between the prince and the
general suffered no interruption or diminution.
In the French campaign General Blomenthal was
again chief of the staff to the Crown Prince ; yet,
with ail due respect to the high talents of the
general, it certainly did not occur to anyone to
attribute the organization of the victories of
Weissenburg and Worth to the chief of the
staff, at the expense of the genial leader of the
host.
The third German army followed in the wake
of the retreating French, although it would appear
that touch with the latter was soon lost.
The small fortress of Lichtenberg, in the Vosges,
was summoned to surrender by a corps of Wurtem-
beigers on the 8th of August. Upon the command-
ant's refusal a heavy destructive cannonade was opened
upon the place. It capitulated two days after.
Another of the small fortresses in the Vosges,
Llitzelstein, or La Petite Pierre, was hastily aban-
doned by the French, and occupied by troops of
the 2nd Bavarian corps on the 9th of August.
In such hut haste had the French evacuated the
place, that large stores and much war material were
found there by the conquerors.
Nancy was abandoned by the French on the I2th of
August, and soon after taken possession of by four
German lancers. The small fortress of Marsal also
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Men who Juive made the
waa speedily reduced by troops of the 2nd Bavarian
corps.
On the 16th of August the Crown Prince took up
his head-quarters at Nancy. Here he remained with
his army, to cover the operations of the first and
second German armies before Metz, and to be
ready at hand in case of need.
After the battle of Gravelotte, when Bazaine was
securely shut up in Metz, the Crown Prince moved
on again, westward, over Commercy, Bar-le-Duc,
Point-du-Jour, and Vitry, upon Chdlons, which was
reached on the 24th of August, when it was dLs-
covered that the camp on the Mourmelon had been
abandoned by the French, Vitry capitulated on the
morniug of the 25th of August.
It was speedUy ascertained that Marshal M'Mahon
was not retreating upon the French capital, but was
moving, at the head of 150,000 men, in the direc-
tion of Rheims and Rethel, with the evident inten-
tion of endeavouring, in co-operation with Bazaine
and his host of 200,000 then shut up in Metz, to
fall upon the Germans before that great fortress, and
to crush them by the force of overwhelming numbers.
The plan of this campaign had been bunglingly
conceived in Paris by Palikao (Montauban). Its
execution was attempted still more bunglingly by
the present chief of the French government
The Crown Prince retraced his steps with the
utmost rapidity, and cffcctc<l his junction with the
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New German Empire. -
newly-formed army of the Meuse, under the com-
mand of the Saxon Crown Prince Albert, the
present King of Saxony, in ample time to con-
tribute to the victory of Beaumont, and share in
the " crowning mercy " of Sedan.
The future impartial historian alone, who can
keep his pen equally free from personal predilec-
tion as &om prejudice, will be able to assign to
the memory of the Crown Prince of Prussia the due
share of glory that ought to fell to his name in
connection with this most marvellous achievement.
Here we need say simply, that the Crown Prince's
excellent tactics contributed largely to crown Moltke's
splendid strategy with the fullest success.
M'Mahon had set out from the camp of ChAlons
with a fine army of 150,000 men. Of all this
formidable host there escaped only a small fraction
of some 3,000 across the Belgian frontier. About
115,000 men, including about 4,000 oflScers, fell
into the conquerors' hands as prisoners of war in the
battles of Beaumont and Sedan, and by the sub-
sequent capitulation. Fourteen thousand wounded
were also found in Sedan. The rest lay stretched
stiff and cold on the bloody fields of Beaumont
and Sedan, and at Nouart and Mousson.
From Sedan the united victorious German armies
(the 3rd under command of the Crown Prince
of Prussia, and the army of the Meuse under
command of the Crown Prince of Saxony) moved
,.,-ibyGooglc
Men who have made the
on in the direction of Paris, under the personal
leiidership of King WUliam, who established his
head-quarters in the old French coronation city of
Rheima on the 5th of September.
It is an incalculable blessing for Germany and
Europe that the Crown Princ2 of Prussia — as has
been more than once before observed in the course
of this memoir — is not a soldier tlirough and through,
and from natural inclination.
He goes to the field of battle as a matter of
duty. Under the conscious inspiration of his deep
sense of duty, he, indeed, gives the widest and fullest
scope and play to hia liigh military genius ; but the
fight once done, he is not the man to revel in the
intoxication of victory. He ahudderingly beholds
the stem realities of the unspeakable miseries of
war, and instead of insatiably striving, like a
Napoleon Bonaparte, to add fresh leaflets to the
laurel crown encircling the victor's brow, he bethinks
him only of how to soften the miseries, how to
assuage the sufieriuga inflicted by the awful deity
whose dread rites he has just been solemnizing as
hierarch.
So, no wonder that we should fijid the Crown
Prince of Prussia, five short days after the storming
of Sedan, issuing a pleading and warm appeal to
every German man and woman in the great Father-
land to put their shoulders energetically to the
wheel to establish a general fund for the relief of
■ Google
New German Empire. 77
invalided warriors and' their families — an appeal so
gloriously seconded by his august wife, our own
Princess Koyal.
On the I7th of September the vanguard of the
Germans reached Paris. With the same strange,
wilful blindness to the most patent facts which
characterized the Auatrians in their Bohemian cam-
paign of 1866, when, to give one instance out of
many, they ruthlessly destroyed a wooden bridge
leading over the Elbe at Kukua, where the width
of the river is not quite that of a moderately-
sized brook, and the depth about knee-deep, . the
French had sternly sacrificed all bridges, viaducts,
and other facilities of communication on roads and
railways, without being able to impose thereby one
single hour's delay upon the irresistible advance of
the foe.
On this day (1 7th of September) a portion of the
l7th brigade overthrew several battalions of the
French to the north of the Brevannes forest ; on
the day after the French were driven back again
at Bic^tre ; and on the 19th the Crown Prince
effected the inclosing of Paris all along the line
from Versailles to Vincennes, having on the after-
noon of that day beaten off three divisions of General
Vinoy's army, which had taken up a strong position
on the heights of Sceaux.
The 2nd Bavarian corps and the 5th Prussian
corps were engaged in this feat of arras, under the
Google
^fnl whs hnm made the
personal command of the Crown Prince. The French
suffered heavy loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners,
besides leaving seven guns in the hands of the con-
querors. General Vinoy was the French commander
on the occasion.
From this day, the 19th of September, forward to
the termination of the siege of Paris, the Crown
Prince held the line Bougival, Sevres, Meudon,
Bourg I'Hay, Chevilly, Thiais, Choisy-le-Roi, and
Bonnevil. He again in person directed the fight
against Vinoy on the 30th of September, when the
French were driven back with heavy loss.
' On the 27th of October Metz capitulated to the
besieging German army under Prince Frederick
Charles. The momentous importance of this event,
taken in connection with the glorious days of
Weissenburg, Worth, and Sedan, induced King
William to depart, for the first time in the his-
tory of the HohenzoUerns, from the old traditionary
custom of the family, which excluded princes of
the reigning house fit)m attaining the highest mili-
tary grade.
King William himself, when Prince of Prussia,
had only held the position of Colonel-General of
infantry, whilst his brother. Prince Charles, had
been made Master-General of the Ordnance, both
with the rank of field-marshal, indeed, but without
the full title. Now, the king resolved for the first
time to raise the Crown Prince and Prince Frederick
,,_,:! by Google
Ne^l} Gentvxn Empire.
Charlea to the full rank and title of general field-
marshals in the army.
In the several desperate attempts made by
the French in the course of November and
December, 1870, and more particularly on the 19th
of January, 1871, the Crown Prince firmly main-
t^ed the position before Paris intrusted to his
keeping.
The day before the last efibrt of General Trochu
to break through the iron lines which the Germans
had drawn round Paris, to wit, the 18th of January,
1871, his majesty King William of Prussia, having
on that day assumed the imperial crown and sceptre
of the ancient German empire, issued a decree raising
the Crown Prince of Prussia to the high state of
Crown Prince of the German empire.
After the happy conclusion of peace, the Crown
Prince, always eager to bid adieu to war and strife,
left Versailles on the 7th of March, 1871. On the
11th of March he passed through Rouen, on the I4th
through Nancy, and so on, in a veritable blaze of
triumph, which his unassuming and unpretending
modesty would gladly have eschewed, to the -
Prussian capital, where his happy royal father
bestowed upon him, on the 22nd of March, the
high insignia of Grand Cross of the Order of the
Iron Cross.
On the 16th of June he took the lion's share of
popular enthusiasm and admiration in the triumphal
Google
Men who have made the
entry into Berlin, and, exactly one month after, in
the triumphal entry into Munich.
Since that time the imperial and royal Crown
Prince of Germany and Prussia has once more —
and how gladly 1 — effaced himself, as it were, from
the great political stage, and taken a happy refuge
from its troubles and turmoil in the bosom of his
family, where his wife and his children are all
the world to him.
There is no need to dwell here upon the deep
devotion which all under his genial command have
ever borne him, and how the hearty " Good morn-
ing," with which he likes to greet -the assembled
regiments, finds an equally hearty responsive echo
in all ranks of the great host. Nor need we ex-
patiate upon the affectionate love felt for him
everywhere by the people of Germany. The pro-
found, racking anxiety with which his illness last
year was watched throughout the land afforded
ample proof of this.
In the love and affection of the people, his wife,
our own Princess Boyal, shares most fuUy and
most deservedly. This august lady, unassuming
and unpretending, like her noble husband, delights
only in setting a bright example to all the women
in the land, in her household, in her nursery, in
the schoolroom of her children, and in that glorious
little model farm of hers and her husband's at
Bomstadt, near Potsdam, a delight in which her
,_,:ibyGoogle
New Oerman Empire. 81
imperial and royal higbneBS has inherited from
her great father, the late Prince Consort. The
augoBt lady haa also given to Berlin a museum
of art, in inutation and emtilation of the South
Kensington Museum in London ; and she is always
striving in every way to improve the condition of
the poor and suffering of her own sex, and to -
devise' new means and channels of female occupa-
tion.
Need any excuse be pleaded here for thus intro-
ducing the name and person of the Crown Princess
in this memoir ? May it not be honestly affirmed,
indeed, that her beneficent influence has also largely
contributed to the making of the new German
empire?
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VII.
PRINCE FREDERICK CHARLES OP PRUSSIA.
Pbincg Fredebice Chaales is unquestionably a
great military commander, who deserves to be placed
high among the tactical leaders who have so largely
contributed to make the new German empire. But
to claim for him, as some military writers have
attempted to do, the first and foremost rank among
the successful commanders in the wars of 1864,
1866, and 1870-71, seems really an exaggerated
stretch of appreciation of the merits of the man.
With some of these adulatory admirers of the
prince it has, indeed, become the fashion to throw
sneering doubts upon the high military capacity and
tactical genius of the Crown Prince, who, to believe
these would-be detractors, has simply reaped what his
chief of the staff had sown.
In the memoir of the Crown Prince I have already
demoDstrated the utter groundlessness of this
gratuitous assertion, and I have also shown that
*' Our Fritz," as the old emperor so affectionately calls
his first-bom, has not committed a single blunder in
New German Empire.
the campaigns of 1866 and 1870-71, but that he has,
on the contrary, displayed a rare aptitude for re-
pairing the grievous mistakes of others, including,
for instance, Prince Frederick Charles's patent
miscalculation at Sadowa.
The Crown Prince is a bom general, with no war-
like predilections ; his cousin is a soldier through and
through, with the most emphatic military proclivities.
Prince Frederick Charles Nicholas was bom at
Berlin on the 20th of March, 1828. He is the eldest
and only son of Prince Charles of Prussia, only
surviving brother of the German emperor, and
Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar, sister of the Empress
Augusta.
As a prince of the house of Prussia he was, of
course, from early infancy, intended for and brought
up in the military career.
EUb education was most carefully attended to. He
enjoyed in his milituy and scientific studies the
guidance of the most eminent and most renowned
teachers, more particularly of Major Roon, subse-
quently Minister of War.
The major was expressly selected by Prince Charles
to attend the young prince in his studies at the
University of Bonn, where Frederick Charles remained
about two years, from 1846 to 1848.
An intimate Mendship was formed here between
the brilliant major and his young charge, who, it is
not too much to say, formed himself almost exclusively
o 2 HKiglc
Men who have made the
upon the model of hia teacher, in his high qualities
as well as, unhappily, also in his glaring defects. The
prince's somewhat exa^erated notions of his high
princely rank and position, and hia slightly ex-
travagant insistance upon the blindest and most abso-
lutely submissive obedience to his will and command
on the part of aU who happen to be placed under hia
rule, may truly be aaid to have been instilled into his
mind by Boon.
In 1848 he was made captain of cavalry, and
appointed in that capacity to the staff of Greneral
Wrangel, whom be attended accordingly in the
Schleswig campaign. A valiant soldier, like all
HohenzoUems, and a fearless rider, he gained some
personal distinction in the fight of Schleswig.
In 1849 he was raised to the rank of major, and
attached to the staff of his uncle, Prince William of
Prussia, whom he attended in the Baden campaign.
In the fight of Wiesenthal (June 20), where Franz
Sigel was very near snatching a victory over the
Prussian troops opposed to him, the young hussar
officer made several brilliant charges at the head of
his squadron.
Here he waa aeverely wounded in the arm and
ahoulder. His recovery was rather long and tedious.
He, however, turned the time of this enforced leisure
to most excellent account; he studied hard, more
particularly military sciences and history, the lives
and campaigns of Frederick the Great and of the
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New German Empire.
first Napoleon forming the subject of his special
predilection.
After his recovery he returned to his military
duties, and advanced gradually to the rank of lieu-
tenant-general of cavalry.
In 1854 he married Princess Maria Anna, daughter
of Duke Leopdd Frederick of Anhalt Dessau, one of
the wealthiest of the princes of Germany.
In 1859 his uncle, the Prince Regent, placed him
at the head of the 3rd army corps.
Francis Joseph's obstinate dislike of Prussian
assistance deprived Frederick Charles of the eagerly
anticipated chances of trying conclusions with the
French. But, although thus compelled to look on as
an idle spectator of the deeds of others, he yet
managed to turn the Austro-Italian campaign to the
most profitable account for his military schooling.
He eagerly watched the French tactics in this war,
and, with the lessons of his great teacher (Koon)
impressed on his mind, he easily detected their
palpable defecta.
He clearly saw that it was certainly not the
superior prowess of the French or the high military
ability of their commanders which had overthrown the
Austrians in the field, but that it was chiefly, if not
even exclusively, the gross incapacity of Giulay, and
the still grosser incapacity of Francis Joseph himself
and the gentlemen of his military cabinet, which had
led to the catastrophes of Magenta and Solferina
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Men w^ have made the
The prince gathered round him a somewhat ex-
tensive circle of superior officers, to whom ho
explained his viewe, and with whom he disciissed the
many important questions arising there&om or in
connection therewith. Those privileged to join in
the prince's dissertations on strategic and tactical
qaestions soon b^an to entertain the highest opinion
of this young general's ability.
Some of t^e moat prominent of his military essays
Frederick Charles had litho^aphed for private
circulation among his own circle.
However, one of these essays obtained a wider
publicity, much against the will and wish of the
Orincc
It appeared at Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 1860, witii
the unpretending title, "A Military Memorial, by
P. F. C." It was simply an essay on the ways and
means of the Prussian army to overcome the French
in fight It created great stir, more especially in
France, where it made much bad blood, it would
seem, and provoked several " victorious refutations,"
en attendant the chance of teaching the presuming
Prussians better at the first opportunity on die field
of battle.
Frederick Charles himself was greatly annoyed hy
the unauthorized publication of his essay. He even,
against the advice of his fiiends, brought an action
gainst the publisher, who had taken the unwarrant-
able liberty to add a preface of his own manufacture
Gooylc
N'ew German Empire. 87
to the prince's essay — a preface thoroughly alien to
Frederick Charles's own personal views. The action
ended in the prince's discomfiture ; the publisher
being triumphantly acquitted.
In 1861 Frederick Charles attained the high rank
of general of cavalry in the Prussian army.
When the Danish war broke out in 1864 the prince
had intrusted to him the command of the right
wing of the Prussian corps.
Wrangel was appointed commander-in-chief of the
allied Austro-Pnissian forces. Considering t^e great
age of the old marshal, it was almost transparent that
the command was meant to be more nominal than
real, and that it had been bestowed upon the old
man simply to guard against hurting Austrian sus-
ceptibilities.
At fdl events, Prince Frederick Charles might fairly
be considered to be almost independent in his sub-
command, and to have pretty free hand to devise
and execute his own plan of campiugn, so that the
unsuccessful attempt upon Missunde (2nd of February)
must be put down entirely to the debit aide of the
prince's account.
However, he soon retrieved this first failure by
turning o£F to the right and marching on Amis,
where he successfiilly crosded the Schley on the 6th
of February — a clever strategic move, which com-
pelled the Danes to evacuate the £unous Dannewerk. .
The prince now marched upon the fortified position
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Men who liave made the
of DUppel, which, he found a very hard nut to crack.
It took, in fact, a regular siege of two months' dura-
tion to prepare the way for the final storm upon the
DUppel lines, which were gallantly carried at last on
the ISthof ApriL
Preparations had now to be made to cross over to
Alaen ; this operation, however, was not executed
by the prince, for after Wrangel's resignation (t^e old
man thought he had do business there), the prince suc-
ceeding to the command-in-chief, Gieneral Herwarth
von Bittenfeld, his successor in the command of the
light wing of the Prussian corps, effected the capture
of the important island of Alsen.
All thiags duly considered, and taking into ac-
account also, and more especially, the very great
disproportion of the forces engaged on both sides,
no conscientious historian would venture to claim
a very large laurel wreath for Frederick Charles
because of his high deeds in the Danish campaign
of 1864.
But two years after, in 1866, die prince had a
much better and more promising opportunity afforded
him to gain the reputation of a great commander,
and it must be conceded by all, even by those whose
belief in the prince's military ability is by no means
absolute, that Frederick Charles fuUy and most suc-
cessfully availed himself of this opportunity.
He was intrusted by the king with the command
of the first Prussian army, formed of the 2nd,
iiM.KibyGoogk'
New German Empire. 89
3rd, and 4th corpe, numbeiing altogether 93,000
effectivea With this army the prince started from
bis heod-qnarters in Saxon Luaatia on the 22nd of
Jane, and crossed into Bohemia the day after, where
he was speedily joined (28th of June) by General
Herwarth von Bittenfeld with the army of the Elbe,
numbering some 46,000 effectives, so that the prince
had tmder his supreme command altogether about
140,000 men.
Three days before the junction of the two armies
the prince had defeated part of the Austrian forces
opposed to him at Liebenau.
This first encounter was almost entirely limited
to an artillery fight, and of no very great importance.
Bat the day after (26th of June) he attacked the
Austrians again at Podol, where a most obstinate and
bloody fight ensued, which ended only at midnight,
when Podol was at last finally taken by the Prussians.
It was at Podol where the needle-gun for the first
time came into terrible play. An entire battalion of
Austrian riSes was annihilated here almost to a man.
On the 28th the prince, having now effected his
junction with the army of the Elbe, made a grand
attack upon the corps of Clam-Gallas and the Saxon
army which had joined it.
The battle took place at MUnchengratz. It ended
in the defeat of the Austrians and Saxons, and in
their retreat to Gitschin, where they took up a for-
midable position on a steep rock before the town.
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Men who have made the
Next day (29th of June) the prince had this position
attacked by tvro Prussian divisiona, which, after a most
obstinate and bloody fight, in which heavy loss was
inflicted and snfi'ered on both sides, drove the Aus-
trians &om it headlong into the town of Gitschin.
The victorious Prassians relentlessly pursued the
defeated enemy, and continued the fight in the
streets of Gitschin. After one of the fiercest struggles
in the history of this war the Austrians were ulti-
mately driven out, and compelled to retreat to
Horziz.
The corps of Cl^u-GaUas had suffered fearfully in
these battles. It was almost disoi^anized. But the
Austrian general had bravely done his duty. Bene-
dek's faulty dispositions had contributed most largely
to bring about the catastrophe.
But Benedek was unfortunately, to the grievous
damage of his own reputation, mean enough to en-
deavour to cover his own responsibihty by sacrificing
his sub-commander, whom he accused in his reports
to Vienna of having, by his want of military capacity,
caused the overthrow and dissolution of his corps,
adding that this grievous failiire of Clam-Gallas alone
had compelled him (Benedek) to relinquish offensive
operations, and to concentrate his army rearward
upon KoniggriLtz.
This false charge led to the aunmiary dismissal of
poor Clam-Gallas from his command, which he had
to hand over to Count Gondrccourt. Clam-Gallas
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New German Empire.
afterwards succeeded in proving the " unfaimeas,"
to use no harsher word, of Benedek's conduct to
him iu the affiiir.
On the 2nd of July, King William, attended hj
Boon, Moltke, and Bismarck, arrived at Oitechin,
It had been intended to give the Prussian army
one or two days' rest, but on the evening of the 2nd
of July General Voigts-Rhetz, chief of the staflf to
Prince Frederick Charles, and, aoit dit en passant,
one of the most brilli^it and accomplished officers of
the Prussian army, reported to his chief that the
Austrians were crosrang the Bistritz over to Sadowa.
This report decided General Moltke to bring on a
general engagement the next day.
Orders were immediately de^tched to the Crown
Prince to come up from Kukus, and to take up his
poeition on the right flank, Prince Frederick Charles
occupying the front, and General Herwarth von
Bittenfeld the left flank or wing.
The ball was opened by Prince Frederick Charles
in the centre early in the morning of the 3rd
of July; indeed, report will have it, two hours
sooner dian Greneral Moltke had contemplated, and
in the very teeth of the general's injunctions to
that effect
The prince, it is asserted, is a man of towering
ambition, and not without jealousy of his royal
cousin, the Crown Prince. He was eager, it is
said, to snatch a complete factory over the Austrians
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Men who have made the
before his cousin should be able to come up to share
in the laurels gained by him.
The time has not yet come, nor are all the requisite
materials at hand, to decide whether there is actually
some foundation for this accusation made against die
prince, or whether it ought to be relegated into the
extensive domain of historic fictions.
It has been pleaded that it was not the premature
attack upon the Austrian position made by the
prince, but the " unforeseen " delay of the Crown
Prince in his advance from Kukus to Chlum, that
imperilled for a time the fortune of the day, This
plea is peremptorily rejected by Prince Frederick
Charles's critics, who maintain that there was nothing
imforeseen in the delay of the Crown Prince's march,
■ but that Moltke had previously, in fullest anticipa-
tion of such delay, fixed the time of attack at two
hours later.
If Prince Frederick Charles really allowed himself
to be led away in the matter by his ambition, he
certainly must have discovered, at an inconveniently
early period of the day, that ambition is a most
unsafe guide, and he must have longed for the
advent of his royal cousin on the right flank as
ardently as Wellington did for the coming of
BlUcher's Prussians at Waterloo.
It must be conceded, however, by all parties,
even those with a strong bias against the prince,
that he bore himself right valiantly throughout the
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New German Empire. 93
fierce fight of Sadowa, and that his tactical dis-
positions were most masterly.
His army, also, did its fighting with desperate
valour, and with unswerving, toughest fimmesa
throughout. General Fraosecky's division, more
especially, gained high distinction in tlie battle, and
the heroic courage of the 26th and 27th regiments
(Magdeburgers), in the capture of the small wood of
Sadowa, was truly beyond aU praise.
Still the fete of the day remained suspended in
the scales of Fortune, and as noon c^ne there was
clearly a preponderating incline to the Austrian
aide. Herwarth von Bittenfeld advanced but dowly
&om Ihe left wing, and the king, who acted as com-
mander-in-chief of the combined annies, was over-
long detained on Froblus-hill, where he had taken up
his station early in the morning. His majesty also
ardently longed for the arrival of his son and heir,
but did meanwhile his best to keep the %ht in
suspense, at least, by the most formidable display
of artillery.
To this latter splendid branch of the Prussian
service belonged unquestionably a considerable share
of the glory of the ultimate victory, which, as has
been stated already in the memoir of the Crown
Prince, was finally gained by the ma^ificently-
executed movement of the Silesians under Mutius
across the Trotina — compelling Benedek, at a most
critical juncture, to change the position of his right
Men who have made the
wing — and by the heroic capture of Chlum, effected
by the Augusta and Elizabeth battaliona of the guard.
To return once more to the precipitation of the
attack in the morning imputed to Prince Frederick
Charles, the prince's critics maintain that it was owing
in a great measure, at least, to the exhaustion of his
and Bittenfeld's forces that the battle did not
eventuate in the total destruction of the Austrians,
which might have led to more soiprising results even
than those achieved in the end.
The prince's alleged " mistake, or miscalculation "
has by some of his critics been compared in its issue
and results with tiie famous blunder of General
Manstein, at Colin, in the Seven Years' War.
Nov I must candidly confess that this seems to me
a stretch far beyond anything ever yet before at-
tempted to throw discredit upon the achievements
and reputation of a truly great commander in the
field.
To make this clear I will give a brief sketch here
of the political and military position of affairs at
the battle of Colin.
At the time of that battle, Frederick the Great,
having just before (6th of May, 1757) gfdned the
great victory of Prague, with the prospect of com-
pelling the flurrendcr of the beaten Austrian army,
which had taken refuge in that city, held apparently
a most promising position, politically and militarily.
Of the great coalition formed against him, one
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New German Empire.
of the most important members, Saxony, was abso-
lutely in bis hands. The French were only just
making tJieir appearance on the scene, the Eussians
were atill far off, and the princes of the Holy Roman
Empire were just being frightened into the speediest
withdrawal from the anti-Frussian coalition by
Colonel Meyer's expedition into Franconia.
Had the great king succeeded in defeating the
otiier Austrian army in the field, which was com-
maitded by Maishal Daun, and bad taken up a
formidable position at Colin, Prague must have
surrendered ; the Holy Soman Empire must have
accepted any conditions of peace it might have
pleased the victorious Bomssian king to impose
upon its members ; France and Kussia would have
thought twice before they had ^oe on with the
war ; and Maria Theresa would have been compelled
to make peace again, at the additional sacrifice,
perhaps, of another province ceded to the con-
queror.
I have said Marshal Datin had taken up a for-
midable position at Colin. The Austrian front,
or centnun, looking to the north, was, in fact,
unassailable to all intents and purposes. Not so
the right wing, which, if properly attacked by over-
whelming forces, could hardly avoid being rolled
up and forced upon the centre.
The execution of this tactical manoeuvre was in-
trusted by the king to Generals Ziethen and Hulsen,
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96 Men who have made the
who commanded the left Prussian wing. The Prus-
sian centre, tmder Maurice of Dessau, and the right
wing under the Duke of Bevern, were strictly ordered
by the king to abstain from all offensive operations
upon the Austrians opposed to them, and to hold
themselves in readiness to give tiie most energetic
support to the attacking left wing of the Prussian
army.
One of Prince Maurice's sub-commanders in the
Prussian centre, a General Manstein, a man of
towering ambition, under pretext of an order from
the king alleged to have been brought him by M.
de Varennes, a French refugee in the king's service,
engaged the fight in the centre, where the Austrian
position waa absolutely unassailable.
This gross blunder proved fatal The Prussian
army was badly defeated, despite the most herojc
courage and endurance ; it suffered enormous losses,
and the siege of Prague had to be raised at once and
Bohemia evacuated by the Prussians.
General Manstein had committed a similar blunder
at the battle of Prague, but with less dire resiilts,
and the king, in the joy of victory, had forborne to
visit with deserved punishment the general's want
of strict obedience to commands.
To pretend to detect the least similarity between
Prince Frederick Charles's premature attack on the
morning of the 3rd of Jtlly, even admitting the
justice of this charge against him (which I for one
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New German Empire.
will not concede), and Manstein's bold defiance of
orders at Colin, seems to me positively monBtrous.
After the battle of Koniggratz, Prince Frederick
Charles moved wit^ his army into Moravia upon
Brilnn, Herwarth von Bittenfeld being directed upon
Iglau, both in tiie direct road to Vienna.
The Archduke Albrecht, having meanwhile taken
the chief command of all the Austrian forces, ordered
Benedek up from OlmUtz to Florisdorf, to see whether
Vienna might not be successfully defended there.
The Crown Prince tried to cut off Benedek's direct
line of march to Vienna, but he failed, as has been
stated already in his memoir. Prince Frederick
Charles was more successfiil. He sent the division of
Horn to Lundenburg, where he succeeded (16th of
July) in forcing Benedek to cross to the left bank of
the March river. The Austrian general had there-
fore to effect his retreat to Vienna across the
lesser Carpathian mountains.
The last deed of arms performed in this war by
the army of Prince Frederick Charles was the battle
of Blumenau. Here General Fransecky vigorously
attacked the Austrians in front (22nd of July), whilst
Gfeneral Bose undertook to turn them by a masked
march over the hills. This operation succeeded fuUy,
and there was every prospect of another great vic-
tory, which would have laid Hungary open to the
Prussians, when, at noon, the news was brought of
the conclusion of an armistice at head-quarters.
VOL. 11. H i-ibyGoOQle
Men who have -made the
Four days after followed the preliminaries of peace.
In the Franco-German war of 1870-71, Prince
Frederick Charles had the command of the Second
German Army intrusted to him.
He left Berlin on the 26th of July for his head-
quartera
He first appeared actively on the scene on the
16th of August, in the fierce fight of Mars-la-Tour.
He had been moving swiftly upon the French line
of retreat. In co-operation with this movement,
General Steinmetz had, on the 1 4tb of August,
engaged the retreating French at Courcelles, and had
forced them back behind the fortifications of Metz.
This had given the prince an additional day, which
he had turned to the best account.
The 3rd corps, under tiie command of General
von Alvensleben II., bore the brunt of this engage-
ment at Mars-la-Tour, which was one of the fiercest
and bloodiest battles of the war. It stood opposed
for hours to overwhelming French forces ; at last it
was supported by part of the 10th corps, and of
the 8 th and 9 th corps, under the personal command
of the prince. Even then the French forces were
numerically greatly preponderating over the Gei-mana.
Yet, after twelve hours' incessant struggle, the French
were thrown back into Metz.
It was in this terrible battle of Mars-la-Tour that
six squadrons of German cavalry (7th Cuirassiers and
ICth Lancers) made the famous dashing attack upon
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New German Empire.
the French centre at Vionville, which dekyed Can-
robert's attempt to break through until it was too
late.
Surprifie haa often been expressed how this attack,
however dashing, made by so small a force, could
possibly have hindered the French centre, consisting
of two entire corps, firom forcing a way through
its FruBsian opponents.
Quite lately the MUiL Wochenhlatt contained a
query in this same sense, with a suggestion added,
whether the leaders of the French were not perhaps
completely confounded and misled by the dash of
the attack.
To this Count Schmettau, who had himself com-
manded one of the two attacking regiments (the
7th Cuirassiers), replied in the same military journal,
that he had had occasion, some time after the capitu-
lation of Metz, to discuss this very affair with the
French General Henri, who was chief of the staff
. of Marshal Canrobert on the 16th of August, 1870
(the day of the battle of Mars-la-Tour), and who
was present in the field during this attack. General
Henri, in reply to a question addressed to him by
General Schmettau, said, *' We could not think that
two regiments would so madly ride into the open
jaws of death unless they knew themselves powerfully
supported."
It would seem, accordingly, that it was the slender
force of the attacking horse which misled the French,
H 2 C.oogle
100 Men who have made the
and made them hesitate at die very time when they
might have succeeded in their object, since the weak
Pruaaian forces then opposed to them could not pos-
ably have hindered them, as Count Schmettau fully
admita. The coimt claims for the commander of the
Pruaeian corps, General Alvensleben IL, the high
credit of having with prompt decision made up his
mind to incur the risk of the certain loss of two
regiments of cavalry — but of only two— to purchase
thereby, perchance, a very great success.
At Gravelotte also the prince was present, and
contributed much to the favourable result of the
day.
Personal dissensions between the prince and General
Steinmetz, which will be found mentioned more at
length in the memoir of the general, led to the
hitter's withdrawal from the army before Metz,
leaving the prince in undivided and undisturbed
command of the German besieging forces.
Here, with some 120,000 men, he kept Bazaine shut
up in the fortress and fortified camp of Metz, with
close upon 180,000 men, victoriously repulsing the
repeated most desperate attempts of the French
marshal to break through the iron circle he had
drawn round him and his host.
The two most formidable of these French sorties
were made on the Slst of August and the 1st of
September, and on the 7th of October, the former, in
which the fight raged almost incessMitly from the
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morning of the 31at of August till noon of the lat of
September, is known in the history of the war as
the battle of Noisseville. In this, as weU as in the
latter sortie, when the French attacked from die
direction of Woippy, the noble division Kummer had
the lion's share of the fighting.
At last, on die 27th of October, Bazalne capitulated
with his whole army, some 173,000 men, including
three marshals of France and over 6,000 officers,
whilst Uie conquerors did not much exceed 110,000
effectives at the time of the surrender — a capitulation
unique in the anuals of history; for at Sedan the
circumstances were vastly different, and the surrender
of Paris also affords no true point of eomparison.
The day after the capitulation of Metz the king
raised both Prince Frederick Charles and the Crown
Prince to the highest rank in the army, that of field-
m&rshal-general.
In the oldest traditions of the house of Hohen-
zollern the attainment of this highest military
position bad never before been open to a prince
of the royal family. The king's brother, Prince
Charles, the father of Frederick Charles, figures in
the rank list of the army simply as master-general
of ordnance, and the king himself, when Prince
of Prueaa, had only held the position of colonel-
genend of infantry. But the estraordmary events
and the stupendous successes of the French war
might weU be deemed by the king to fully justify
102 Men who have made the
this double departure &om the old traditionaiy rule
of the family.
The aurrender of Metz was a most opportune event ;
for just about that time Gambetta's patriotic exertions
were beginning to succeed -in sending fresh French
armies into the field.
On the 9th of November General d'Aurelle de
Faladines forced the Bavarians, under Von der Tann,
to evacuate Orleans. Although he was himself com-
pelled to stop the pursuit, as General Wittich, Prince
Albrecht (father), and the Grand Duke of Mecklen-
burg rapidly joined Von der Tann, yet diis new army
of the Loire became a real danger to the Germans
besieging Paris.
To meet this threatening peril eflfectively, Frede-
rick Charles received orders from head-quarters to
march as rapidly as possible fcom Mctz to the
Loire.
On the 2nd of November already the prince had
transferred his own head-quarters from Corny, where
they had been since the 7th of September, to Pont-^-
Mousson. On the 10th of November he was at
Troyes. He advanced rapidly over Sens, Rambouillet,
Nemours, and Pithiviers, until be came in collision,
on the 28th of November, with d'Aurelle's army (the
army of the Loire), at Beaune-la-Rolandc
He here inflicted a severe defeat on the French,
who lost some 5,000 killed and wounded, and about
2,000 unwounded prisoners.
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New German Empire. 103
On the 3rd of December the prince, in conjunction *
with the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, defeated the
French again at Chevilly and Chilliers-aui-Bois,
driving them back upon Orleans, which important
cily was re-taken by the Germans on the 5th of
December.
On this grand occasion more than 10,000 un-
wounded prisoners were made, and cloae upon eighty
pieces of artillery taken, together with four gunboats,
each of them armed with a 24-pounder.
The prince continued his advance upon Tours. On
the 12th of December he transferred his head-quarters
to Beaugency, where the Grand Duke of Mecklen-
burg had had several days' hard fighting against
vastly preponderating French forces. Blois was
occupied on the 13th of December, Vendfime on the
16th of December.
By this time the Loire army, commanded now by
General Chanzy, had been reduced to about half its
original formidable strength. On the 4th of January,
1871, Prince Frederick Charles, having completed his
preparations, moved forward to meet General Chanzy.
He came upon the army of that general advancing
on Vend6me, and threw it back beyond Azay and
Montoire (6th of January).
The day- after, the French were, by a series of
obstinate fights, driven suceesaivcly back to Nogent-
le-Rotrou, Sarg^, Saviguy, and La Chartre, and on
the 8th beyond St. Calais and Bouloire. On the 12th
i.dbyGoogle
Mm. who have made the
' of January, finally, Le Mans waa taken by the
victorious prince, who also carried the French posi-
tions at St. Comeille, to the north-east of Le Mans.
The losses of Chanzy's army in the seven days'
incessant fighting, from the 6 th to the 12th of
January, were enormouB, Twenty thousand un-
wounded prisoners fell into the hands of the victors,
together with many guns and large war stores, &c.
The famous camp of Conlie was occupied on the
14th of January.
With this last successful operation we may iairly
close here our brief account of Prince Frederick
Charles's glorious campaign on the Loire.
On the 28th of January the armistice was concluded,
which was followed, less than a month after, by the
signing of the preliminaries of peace.
On the 22nd of March Prince Frederick Charles
received from the emperor and king, as a crowning
proof and most signal mark of his high regard
and his full appreciation of the prince's great
achievements in the field, the Grand Cross of the
Iron Crosa
The prince is now in his forty-seventh year, in the
prime and vigour of manhood. He is one of the
most prosperous among the prosperous, one of the
moat fortunate among the fortunate.
Although, owing no doubt to his somewhat haughty
bearing towfirds those placed under his command, and
his rigorous enforcement of the sternest and most
New German Empire. 105
unbending discipline, it cannot be said that he enjoys
the devoted love of the army as the Crown Prince
does, yet officera and soldiers alike look up to him
with the most respectful esteem, and they will follow
his lead blindly, and with the most absolute con-
fidence in his high military capacity.
They have bestowed upon him the name of the " Iron
Prince," but he is more generally known still as the
" Red Prince," from the colour of the hussar uniform
which he most affects to wear.
What may the future still have in store for this
favourite of Fortune ? Who can tell ? Of late his
name has been brought forward again more than once
and in several quarters, with evident intention, in
connection with the throne of Spain. WeU, Quien
sahe t Of course his truest friends can only wish the
prince a lucky escape from such a windfaU of fortune
aa the glittering bauble of the Spanish crown and
sceptre ; but ambition is a strange and most
dangeroiis passion — and so again, who knows ?
by Google
Men who have made the
VIII.
KING ALBERT OF SAXONY.
Though placed here third in our list of leaders of
the German host in the ever-memorable Franco-
German war of 1870-71, yet ranking second to none
in that glorious galaxy of great commanders. King
Albert, a namesake of our own unforgotten and
never-to-be-forgotten Prince Consort, springa also
from the same most ancient and most noble house
of Wettin.
Wettin is now only a small, wholly unimportant
place, of some four thousand soula. Yet a thousand
years ago it was the (legendary) cradle and chief
seat of power of the mighty Wettinkind, or Widukin,
the antique Saxon hero, who for thirteen years nobly
withstood the overwhelming giant power of the
Prankish King Charles, dubbed Carolus Magnus by
that capricious jade Clio, who so dearly likes to
adulate success.
However little substantial foundation in truth there
may be for the legendary connection between Wettin
and Wettinkind, thus mucli is certain, at all events.
New Gferman Empire. 107
that Wettin was the ancestral seat of the Thanes, or
Counts, of that ilk, to whom all the royal and ducal
Saxon and Thuringian houses of the present day trace
their origin and pedigree.
King Albert's father, the late King John of Saxony,
played an important part in the great events of the
last few years. It was more especially dread of his
action in the matter which induced King Louis of
Bavaria to be beforehand with him in tendering the
crown of a new German empire to King William of
Prussia. Had the Bavarian not taken time by the
forelock on the occasion, there can be little doubt
that the new empire would have been established
at the time at once upon a much more rational and
satisfactory basis than that on which it happens to
stand now, and without the wretched trammels of
those foolish reserved sovereign rights of its king-
lets and princelets, which may yet unhappily prove
the fruitful source of internal convulsions and foreign
intrigue complicationa For this reason King John
may well claim a place among the men who have
been instrumental in creating the new German
empire. A brief biographic sketch of the father
may therefore serve here as a suitable introduction
to the memoir of the son.
THE LATE KING JOHN OF SAXONY.
It is a trite old saying, that the people have rarely
cause to mourn when kings die. Still there are excep-
.ogle
108 Men taho have made the
tiona from time to time, just to prove the rule. One
of auch rare ezceptiooal instances had to be chxomcled
in the annahi of history on 29th of October, 1873,
when King John of Saxony departed this life.^
The deceased monarch was not a great king in any
of the generally received senses and acceptations of
the term. Hia dominions did not quite cover the
limited area of six thousand English square miles,
whilst the number of his subjects fell iax short of
the figure of the population of the British metropolis.
No warrior-king was he ; no new provinces annexed
he to his realm. He did not gather round him poets,
artists, and musicians, that he might bask in second-
hand reflected " intellectual " glory ; ay, he did not
even start an international exhibition of works of
industry and art, that his name might thereby be
made great and renowned among men.
But he was emphatically a noble specimen of the
noblest work of the Almighty Father of all — an
honest man, and a worthy king of men. Indeed, of
him and of his life and deeds the truth may be
recorded undisguisedly, without fear of offending
against the spurious old canon that naught should be
spoken of the dead but the things redounding to their
pnuse.
John — ^for a truly great man such as the father of
the present King of Saxony needs not the benefit of
that full string of baptismal belongings which is
generally bestowed upon Catholic princes; and with
,_ I by Google
New German Empire. 109
his people " Our King " and " Father John " had for
many years past become interchangeable terms — was
one of the younger sons of Duke Maximilian of
Saxony and Caroline Maria Theresa of Parma, of the
Italian-Spanish branch of the house of Bourbon. He
was bom on the 12th of December, 1801, and had
the misfortune of losing his mother when not much
more than two years old. His father, Duke
Maximilian, was not a great prince, but he was an
excellent parent, and he bestowed the utmost care
and BoUcitude upon the proper education of his
children.
Prince John's inatructors were distinguished officers
and scholars, such as Generals Forell and Watzdorf,
Councillor StUbel, the famous criminalist and legist,
who fired his young pupil with his own ardent love
for the law, and that noblest priest of the non-Jiomisk
Catholic Church, Baron Ignatius Wessenberg, Vicar-
General of Constance, the intimate friend of the great
Chancellor Dalberg, and the man who strove so hard
to establish in Germany a National Catholic Church
— a German Catholic Church, under an independent
German Primate, and free alike from all connection
with the Baal of Rome and the poisonous teachings
of the Vatican. - He failed : the time was not ripe
for bis high and noble aspirations. But, happily, a
greater and stronger man than he has taken up the
glorious work anew, and, with God's blessing, will
carry it to a glorious consummation. Bismarck is
,.,-ibyGooglc
Men who have made the
the St Patrick who will ultimately chaae the Romish
vipers out of the fail land.
Under the intelligent guidance of these and other
kindred teachers, Piince John gathered a rich store of
sound knowledge in nearly every field of human lore
and branch of human knowledge. The great and
wise men who presided over the political and social
dep^ment of his studies used their best endeavours
to teach him practical statesmanship in preference to
mere hollow statecraft. And they succeeded marvel-
lously well in their endeavours. Ere yet he had
reached the twentieth year of his life he was fit to
enter the Board of Finance as an adept, and he there
soon shone as one of the most clear-headed and
hardest workers.
His assiduous labour affecting his health, his anx-
ious father insisted upon his accompanying his elder
brother Clement on a journey which the latter was
then just about to make to their deceased mother's
native land (l82l). The two Saxon princes made a
long stay in Italy, where the elder of them died.
It was here where Prince John imbibed that pas-
sionate admiration and love of Petrarch, Ariosto, and
more especially of the divine Dante, which he
retained through life.
After his return to his native land he resumed
his old position on the Board of Finance (1823), of
which he became vice-president a few months after.
Even the surprising amount of sterling work which
,_,:ibyGoogle
JVew; German Empire.
he did in this department, and of which the little
kingdom reaped the benefit, did not satisfy his eager
craving for doing. In his rare leisure hours he pro-
duced a German version of the first ten cantos of
Dante's Inferno, done in blank HendecasyUabics,
with critical annotations that fully showed the ripe
scholar. This work was printed for private circu-
lation among his personal friends. It was signed
" Philalethes," a signature which soon became known
as that of a distinguished contributor to several of
the leading literary periodicals of Germany.
It was about this time that the Saxon Antiquarian
and Archaeological Society was formed, which he
eagerly joined, and of which he was soon made presi-
dent, a position held by him for many years after —
not in the mere honorary way in which so many
princes accept titular positions of this nature, but truly
■ and actually as the facile princeps of the members.
About this time he found that his estate of
Jahnishausen did not yield him a revenue corre-
sponding to what practical landowners obtained from
their properties ; so he threw himself, with his accus-
tomed ardour, upon the study, theoretical and
practical, of farming and rural economy, and with
such brilliant success that his Jahnishausen estate
in a few brief years, from worse than indifferent, as it
had long been, leaped to the high position of a perfect
model farm on a large scale.
On the 21st of November, 1 822, Prince John married
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Men who have matte the
Frincess Amelia Augusta, one of the daughters of
King Mazimilian I. of Bavaria, who survives him.
By her he had issue three sons and one daughter. One
of the sons is dead. The Crown Prince, now King
Frederick Augustus Albert, was bom the 23rd of April,
1828 ; his sister Maria Elizabeth, Dowser Duchess
of Genoa, was bom the 4th of February, 1830, and his
only surviving brodier, Frederick Augustus George,
who also distinguished himself in the late Franco-
German war, and commanded the Saxon corps after
his brother Albert had been appointed general-in-
chief of the army of the Meuse, was bom the 8th of
August, 1832.
Prince George is married (since the 11th of May,
1859) to the Portuguese Infanta Maria Anna, daughter
of King Ferdinand (of the house of Saxe-Coburg Gotha)
and Queen Maria II. da Gloria, by whom he has issue
three sons and two daughters. The present king has
no issue.
The revolutionary wave which swept over a great
part of Europe in 1830 struck also the little kingdom
of Saxony.
Old King Anton was not a good king by any
means, so hia subjects politely requested him to hand
the reins of government over to Prince Frederick
Augustus, John's elder brother, and the next prince
in succession, the father, Duke Maximilian of
Saxony, having resigned his claim to the throne, by
Act of the 13th of September, 1830. On the samedai
Go(.
I day
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New German Empire.
Prince Frederick Augustus was named co-regent.
Prince John took the command of the Communal
Guard, which he retained for many years after. He
also entered the Privy Council, and after the dissolu-
tion of the latter he accepted the proffered presidency
of the Council of State, together with the presidency
of the Board of Finance.
In all these high and important offices, his clear,
practical mind, his urbane and conciliatory manners,
and his immense working capacity, gained him golden
opinions from all quarters. He took a most active
part and share in the framing of the new liberal and
representative constitution of the realm.
After the passing of that constitution be took his
seat in the Upper House as a prince of the blood.
His statesmanlike views, his simple, natural eloquence,
and his power of clear exposition, soon gained him
a prominent place in the foremost rank of the leaders
of that august assembly. Many of the most prac-
tical and liberal measures of the time originated with
him, or owed their success to his energetic support.
His wisdom and moderation carried him through
the revolutionary excitement of 1848 with his per-
sonal popularity undiminished. In 1839-49 he pub-
lished a splendid German version of Dante's " Divioa
Commedia " in three volumes, with numerous critical
and historical notes.
After the death of King Anton, who since Sep-
tember, 1830, had simply continued the nominal head
VOL. II. I CTOOgle
114 Men who have made the
of the state, Prince Frederick Auguatue, the co-re-
gent, succeeded to the Saxon throne, 6th of June,
1836. On the 9th of August, 1854, King Frederick
Augustus II. came to an untimely death, universally
mourned and regretted by his people. As he left
no issue, Prince John inherited the crown.
The new king expressed his firm resolve to tread
in the footsteps of his late lamented brother
and' predecessor; and this resolve he kept reli*
gionsly &om the day of his accession to the last
day of his life.
Among the most glorious measures of his reign,
most of which proceeded firom his own initiative,
may be mentioned more particularly the new law
organization; an extensive and comprehensive series
of codifications of the laws and statutes of the land ;
the removal of all obsolete and vexatious trammels
that impeded the free development of trade and in-
dustry, and the extension and improvement of tlie
great Saxon railway net
Every year, up to the end of his Ijfe, he made an
annual journey of careful and conscientious inspection
through the length and breadth of his small king-
dom, more particularly through the manufacturing
districts ; seeing everywhere with his own eyes, and
hearing with his own ears — quite against the ordi-
nary custom of kings — and suggesting and carrying
out everywhere measures admirably calculated to bene-
fit the working classes.
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Neio German Empire.
No wonder they bo affectionately called hira
"Father John." He was indeed a father to them.
That he was not so successful in foreign politics
as in t^e internal administration of his kingdom was
truly not so much a fault of his, but was owing
almost entirely to a fortuitous combination of fatal
circumstances over which he had but little control.
Both his late brother and he had married prin-
cesses of the house of Bavaria, daughters of King
Maximilian I. His brother's wife was a twin sister
of the Archduchess Sophia of Austria, the late mother
of the Emperor Francis Joseph ; his own wife was a
twin sister of the present Queen Dowager of Prussia.
These four Bavarian princesses exercised for many
years a most pernicious action and influence upon
German affairs.
Sophia of Austria was the moving and guiding
spirit of the palace intrigue which compelled poor
Smperor Ferdinand to abdicate, and threw the whole
power of the state into her own hands. It was she
who committed the horrible murders of the Hungarian
patriot generals at Axad, and all those atrocities for
which the London draymen assaulted Haynau.
Queen Elizabeth of Prussia had gained complete
mastery over the weak and uxorious mind of
Frederick William IV. It was her fatal influence
which brought the humiliation of OlmUtz upon the
land that had the misfortune to call her queen.
The two Saxon queens, the dowager and the wife
I 2 i.dbyGoogk'
116 Men who have made the
of King John, worked in all political questions
hand in hand with their Austrian and Prussian
sisters ; and with them, and inspired and guided by
the four, laboured Baron Beust, the leading minister
of state of Saxony, and the ministers of Bavaria,
Wurtemberg, and Hesse — all joining in the noble
task of curbing and if possible destroying the rising
and growing power of Prussia.
King John of Saxony, with hia clear mind, saw
indeed through their intrigues, and for a time at
least did his best to discourage and counteract them.
Thus, in 1862, when the continued existence of the
Prussian Customs Union was gravely imperilled by
Auatria'a machinations, he was the first to declare
for the renewal of that union, and to give his ad-
hesion to the Franco-Prussian Treaty of Commerce.
He also adhered to the Prusso-Italian Treaty of
Commerce, and disregarding alike the solicitations
and the remonstrances of the two queens and the
wily counsel and insinuations of the' minister of state,
frankly recognized the new kingdom of Italy.
But King John was a loyal member of the Ger-
man Confederation, and a sincere professor of the
Goman Catholic faith ; for, strange to say, the kings
of Saxony, although descended from what may well
be called the oldest Protestant house in Germany,
and ruling over a Protestant people {the number of
Catholics in Saxony barely exceeds 2 per cent, of the
population), have been Roman Catholics ever since
D,:|-i:PdbyG00gle
New German Empire. 117
the Elector Frederick Augustus of Saxony was
beguiled into placing the glittering but worse than
worthless bauble of the Polish crown upon his
head (1697).
Now the smaller kings and princes of the Ger-
man Confederation had, from the first, always shown
a leaning to Austria and distrust of Prussia. Joining
their votes to that of the former power, their anti-
Prussian policy could always secure a majority in the
councLls of the Confederation. The king^ of Saxony
had always voted with the majority, and King John
thooght himself in honour bound to go with that
majority, at least in all important questions. As a
Romanist, also, he preferred the interests of Catholic
Austria to those of Protestant Prussia.
Upon the death of King Frederick of Denmark, the
old Schleswig-Holstein question, which had been per-
mitted to slumber for a time, came suddenly again to
the surface, as lively as ever.
After some ineffectual attempts at .a settlement
with the new Danish king, the German Confedera-
tion passed a resolution to occupy the Duchy of Hol-
stein militarily (7th of December, 1863), Saxony and
Hanover being selected by the Confederation to carry
out the decree. A mixed Saxon and Hanoverian
corps accordingly took military possession of Holstein.
Soon after. Otto von Bismarck made the first great
move in his surprising political game, in persuading
Austria to join with Prussia in a wax against Den-
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118 Men who have made the
mark, with a view to settle the Schleswig-Holstein
question for ever, by taking the Elbe Duchies away
&om Denmark.
Austria and Prussia carried matters with a high
hand, and paid but scanty respect to the Confedera-
tion, which saw itself soon compelled to order the
withdrawal of the Sazon and HanoTerian forces from
Hoktein (by resolution of the 5th of December, 1864).
There can be no doubt that the king felt per^
sonally hurt by the slight put upon the Confederar
tion and upon himself, which he attributed almost
wholly to the agency of Prussia and of Bismarck.'
So when the complications of 1866 arose, he was
easily prevailed upon by the petticoat coterie and
the whi^rings and promptings of Beust to take the
side of Austria in the diplomatic conflict roused in
the bosom of the Confederation. Beust had perfectly
free hand now.
Urged on blindly by his fi'oggy ambition, and wi-
dowed by nature with an intriguing spirit and with
all the mischievous restlessness of the squirrel Rata-
tasker of the mythic fable, this shallow politician,
this Brummagem BrUhl of the nineteenth century,
patted on the back by the four Bavarian princesses,
devised a pretty little scheme to bring the house of
HohenzoUem to humiliation and grief.
As he was joined in this scheme by Von der
Pfordteii, Vambiiler, Dalw^k, and the representative
of the phydcally, morally, and intellectually blind
New German Empire.
King of Hanover, and, lastly, by the great Victor
Strauas, the mighty plenipotentiary of the powerful
Prince of Schaumbiirg-Lippe, be ancceeded in splitting
Grermany into two hostile camps.
The first effect of this success was to drive King
John from his kingdom, which was taken possession
of by the invading Pnissians. Indeed Bismarck,
Rood, and Moltke had planned so well that had it
not been ios the fatal delay of one day's respite
granted to Saxony and Hanover (from the 15th to the
16th of June) by King William, in compliance with
tlie vehement prayer of the Dowager Queen Elizabeth,
the whole Saxon army of 40,000 effectives would pro-
bably have been cut off from Bohemia and compelled
to surrender, and the battle of I<angensalza need not
have been fought
I have placed the effective strength of the Saxon
army which marched into Bohemia to join Benedek
at 40,000 men, a figure which I think corresponds
with the fact of the case. Certain Saxon historians
would appear to place it much higher, from patriotic,
but surely most unhistoric, motives. They assert diat
60,000 Saxons joined Benedek, although they are
compelled to admit that the Saxon army consisted
of only two infantry divisions of four regiments each,
one cavalry division, and the corre^nding force of
artilleiy. The same historians also assert that the
Saxons were never defeated in the Bohemian war, but
had to retire from the field by Benedek's special orders
Google
120 Men who have made the
— at GitBchiu, for instance. This, though not true,
might be indulgently passed OTer, and put down to
an excess of laudable patriotic pride. But to exalt the
bravery of the Saxons and the military talents of
their commander at the expense of the Austriana and
of Benedek, and to say, as these historians do, that
tie Saxons constituted the backbone of Benedek's
forces, and were the only troops who fought valiantly
and veil and were properly led, seems to me a most
reprehensible open perversion of the truth and the
facts of the case. However, enough of this lq this
place.
After the defeat of Benedek, Kiug John retired to
.Vienna; subsequently to Teplitz. When peace was
concluded, he returned to his little kingdom amidst
the joyful acclamations of hia faithful and loving
people (November, 1866).
When Saxony had become a member of the North
German Confederation, King John showed the most
steadfast loyalty to Prussia.
In 1870 he promptly sent his army, under the
command of his two sons (Crown Prince Albert, and
Prince George), to swell the German host.
The high deeds wrought in France by the Saxon
contingent and its heroic leaders are matters of his-
tory, and will, in slight part at least, be found
recorded also iu the memoir of Kiug Albert shortly
to follow.
It must indeed have been a proud day for King
,_ ibyGoogIc
New German Empire.
Joha when the 23rd dlTision made its triumphal
entry into Dresden (11th of July, 1871), and when
he, the happy Either, acting as representative and
in the name of the German emperor, placed the
field-marshal's staff in the hands of the victor of
Beaumont, his own beloved son Albert — the same
golden staff of command which John Sobiesky had
so proudly waved in his chivalrous right hand on
hUi triumphal entry into Vienna, freed by his
gallantry and skill from the Turkish besiegers.
A few months later there came another great
national celebration — the unveiling of Theodore
Kdmer's statue, 18th of October, 1871, the anniversary
of the great victory over the French at Leipzig.
And, finally, some thirteen months after, on the 21st
of November, 1872, King John celebrated his own
" golden " day, the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage
with his wife Amalia, amidst the warmest congratu-
lations sent by all the princely houses of Europe, and
the heartiest and most loviug manifestations of sym-
pathy and kindest wishes of his own true Sazon people.
Altogether, the last two years of King John's life
were peaceful and happy.
He DOW sleeps witii his fathers, a good king and
a worthy man.
There is small need to perpetuate his memory in
stone or marble, or in brass or bronze ; he has raised
for himself an everlasting monument in the faithful
hearts of his loving people.
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Men who have made the
After this brief biographic sketch of the father,
we will now proceed with the memoir of the son.
Frederick Augustus Albert was bom on the 23rd of
April, 1828. He received a most careful education
under the immediate superriBion of his royal father
and of bis grandfather Duke Maximilian, who, how-
ever, departed this life ere his young grandson had
completed his tenth year.
Albert had for his chief guides in the paths of
learning Lieutenant-Colonel Minkwitz and General
Engel, both of them highly accomplished officers ;
Dr. Langem, afterwards president of the High Court
of Appeal, one of the leading legista of Germany, as
well as one of the most eminent historians of the age ;
Dr. Schneider, afterwards Minister of State, also an
eminent legist, and some other men of the same
high intellectual stamp.
Prince Albert showed from a very early age a
decided predilection for the military career. When
barely fifteen (1843) he entered the Saxon artillery
as lieutenant Two years after, another distin-
guished officer, Major Mangoldt, afterwards general,
was appointed the prince's military tutor ; be also
went with him to Bonn in the fall of 1847. Here^
in this favourite resort of royal students. Prince
Albert attended,the lectures of Dahlmann and Perthes,
and other celebrities, but the revolutionary outbreak
of 1848 cut short his stay at that highly-favomred
scat of the Muses.
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New German Empire. 123
On his return to Saxony he preferentially aonght
the society and conveisation of diBtinguished officers,
such as Fabrice, Stieglite, Abendroth, Moutbe, and
otheiB, and eagerly seized every opportanity to in-
crease hia store of military knowledge.
In the Schleswig-Holfitein war of 1848-49 he was
attached to the staff of the FrosBian General Pritt-
witz. It is said he distinguished himself in that
most melancholy of all campaigns, that most lugu-
brious of all farces. His uncle, King Frederick
Angustus, bestowed npon him as a reward the mili-
tary Saxon Order of St. Henry.
In 1849 Prince Albert was advanced to the rank
of major, and the year after to a lieutenant-colonelcy
and the command of the 3rd infantry brigade. In
1851 he was made major-general, and the year after
lieutenant-general and commander of the 1st infantry
division. He was then twenty-four years old. It
may be remarked here, en passant, that princes of
the royal house of Prussia do not advance quite so
fast as this in the Prussian army. Even Prince
Frederick Charles, who was bom in the same year
with King Albert, and whose advancement was ex-
ceptionally rapid, had to wait a few years longer for
the high rank of lieutenant-general
On the 18th of J\me, 1853, Prince Albert married
Princess Carola, or Caroline, daughter of Gustavus
Prince of Wasa, whom Louis Napoleon had the year
before wished to espouse, it was at the time generally
124 Men who have made the
reported, but only to see his suit contumeliously
rejected by the proud Lackland of the old Swedish
king family. Had Guatavus Waaa been less stiffly
proud and more yielding, and had Carola become
the modern Caesar's wife — instead of Eugenie Montijo
— how immense would have been the effect upon the
history of the last fifteen years or so 1 However, Dia
aliter visum. So there 'm an end of it, and no use
whatever to speculate upon what might have been if.
In 1861 Crown Prince Albert of Sasony (his
father had succeeded his uncle on the throne of
Saxony some seven years before) was sent to Konigar
berg in Prussia, to witness the coronation of King
William I, It was here where he met for the first
time the then darling of Fortune, M'Mahon, Marshal
of France, Duke of Magenta. Nine years after, he
was destined to meet bim again on the battle-field of
Beaumont, the portentous precursor of the catadysm
of Sedan 1
In 1866 the Crown Prince of Saxony conmiandcd
the Saxon army of 40,000 effectives, in every way
well found and equipped, and provided with a well-
schooled artillery, which was marched into Bohemia
to swell the Austrian host there under Benedck, and
to help to break the Prussian columns that were
invading the old battle-ground ;^ain in the style
of the Seven Years' War.
On the 22nd of June the Saxons joined the corps
of Clam Gallas, and shared the subst^qucnt grievous
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defeats of that corps. The Saxons fought with
desperate bravery, and were extremely well handled
by their royal leader. This is the simple truth ;
but to assert that they did aU the fighting, and the
Austrians little or none of it, as baa been attempted
to be done, and that they (the Saxons) would have
carried the day repeatedly, more especially at Gitsehin,
had liiey not been compelled by Benedek's express
orders to retire from the field, victoriously held by
them at the time, is reaUy a stretch over-much
beyond what is admissible and allowable even in
historic fiction. Such things ought to be left to the
French.
At Koniggrittz Prince Albert and his Saxons again
shared the defeat of Benedek and the Austrians.
Here also the Saxons fought extremely well, and
the Saxon artillery contributed largely to cover the
retreat of the defeated army.
The royal family of Saxony, the Crown Prince
included, now took up their residence in Vienna
till the conclusion of peace, after which they returned
to Dresden.
The king and the Crown Prince both declared
that they woidd henceforth be as loyal to the North
German Confederation, imder the leadership of
Prussia, as they had proved themselves to the now
defunct old German Confederation. The Crown
Prince showed such vigorous good will in aidmg in
the reorganization of the Saxon army »b an integral
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126 Men wAa have made the
part of the great North German host, that King
William I. at once bestowed upon him the inde-
pendent command of the 12th (Saxon) Army Corps.
The Crown Prince and his friend, General Fabrice,
the Saxon Minister of War, were both indefatigable
in doing everything to bring the Saxon Contingent
to the highest state of perfection, and their efforts
succeeded to the fullest extent, as the Franco-GJerman
war amply proved.
In this war Crown Prince Albert continued at Brst
simply in the command of the 12th corps. His
orders were to bring up his force to Mayence by the
2nd of August. He and his men were on the ap-
pointed spot in perfect readiness two days before
the time fixed I — nd mean achievement, considering
that the exacting demands made by the general staff
of the Prussian army upon the physical and moral
powera of doing and enduring of the soldiers do not
leave mnch margin for the performance of such tours
deforce.
Prince Albert, with his corps, reached the great
army before Metz on the 16th of August, in the even-
ing, and just when he was presenting himself before
King William at Pont-il-Mousson, news of the hard-
fought glory of Mars-la-Tour came in.
On the day of Gravelotte the Saxons had their
first innings : here the Crown Prince of Saxony had
the first real opportunity given him to make good
his claim to the title of a great military commander.
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Both he and his troops came gloriously out of the
ordeal.
The Saxons fought at St. Privat with the same
death-daring boldness and the same unconquerable
tenacity as their forefathers of old had combated
under Widukin and Alboin against the ruthless
Franks ; under great King Henry, the builder of
cities, and his son, the Emperor Otto, against the
savage M^yars ; under Duke Magnus against the
united power of all other German tribes, and on
so many other occasions. Prince Albert proved him-
self a coDsummate commander. He closed up the last
possible loophole through which Bazaine's army might
have crept away from the trap in which Moltke's
sublime still and the unyielding bravery of the
Germans had caught the great French host of the
Rhine, ere it had fairly set out yet on its anticipated
triumphal promenade miUtaire d Berlin!
King William knew how to appreciate at their
true value the immense services rendered to the
German cause by Prince Albert and his Saxons on
the decisive day of Gravelotte. When he met the
prince in the evening of that hot day, he afBxed to
his breast with his own hand the Order of the Iron
Cross; and the day after he intrusted to him the
command over a new army, formed of the Saxon
corps, the Prussian guards, under their glorious chief.
Prince Augustus of Wurtemberg, the 4th corps, com-
manded by General Alvonsleben, and the cavalry
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128 Men who have made the
divisions Rheinhabeu and Duke William I. of Meck-
lenbm^. This new army, a true corps d'Slite in the
fullest sense of the term, received afterwards the
name of Metise army. For his chief of the staff
Crown Prince Albert had assigned him General Schlo-
theim, the very same staff officer who, some four
years back, had, under Herwarth von Bittenfeld, stood
opposed to him at Prim and Problus in the battle
of Kdniggratz. In sober truth, the whirligig of time
performs strange gyrations, and brings with it mar-
vellous changes and wonderful mutations !
At the time it was believed at the German head-
quarters that the whole of the disposable French
forces would be found concentrated for the protection
of Paris. So the so-called third army, \mder the
Crown Prince of Prussia, was pushed on rapidly to
the old (/atalaunian fields, where, in 450, Theodorick
the Visigoth had gained for the Roman Aetius his
decisive victory over Attila the Hun, the scourge
of God.
The so-called fourth army, under Prince Albert,
was ordered to cross the Mouse and move on in the
same direction. More than half the march was done
already, when Lieutenant-Colonel Verdy du Vemois,
of the general staff, one of Moltke's most distinguished
and most trusted aids, suddenly, in the night of the
25-26th of August, appeared at the prince's head-
quarters, with the startling news that M'Mahon was
muching over Rheims in the direction of Mezi^res,
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with the evident intention of raising the siege of
Metz.
It was imperative then to make a complete change
in the disposition of the army, and to march off,
with the utmost rapidity, northward, to the right, a
movement which was executed by the seven corps
comprised in it with a skill, swiftness, and precision
unparalleled in the history of war.
On the 26th of August Prince Albert took up his
head-quarters at CIermont<en-Argonne ; a little later
on in the evening King William established his own
head-quarters general in the same place.
At 10 o'clock that night Schlotheim had an inter-
view with Moltke, upon whom he waited agtun, in
company this time with Prince Albert, at 7 o'clock in
the morning of the 27th of August. Here the prince
and his chief of the staff received their last instnic-
tions from the great strategist.
On the 27th occurred the brilliant cavalry encounter
of Buzancy, when the French were taken completely
by surprise. They dearly had not expected to meet
an enemy in their path here.
On the 29th the vanguard of the Sasona had a
Buccesaful fight with the French at Nouart, and the
day after the Meuse army gained the most important
victory of Beaumont, which decided the fete of
M'Mahon's army. It was here where Failly allowed
himself to be completely surprised by the advancing
Germans, and where M'Mahon showed that the lesson
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of Worth had been taught him in vain. Yet FaiUy
has not been called before a court-martial, and
M'Mahon sits in the presidential chair of France,
whilst poor Bazaine, who at least has shown himself
vastly superior in every respect to these men, after
languishing in prison, is an exile with tarnished
honour. The French are indeed a queer people.
A few days after, on the ever-memorable Ist of
September, 1870, Crown Prince Albert gloriously com-
pleted at Sedan what he had ao brilliantly initiated
at Beaumont
On the 4th of September the prince went to King
William's head-quarters general at Vendresse, where
the old warrior received him with a warm and cordial
embrace, and, with the heartiest acknowledgment of
his high deeds at Beaumont and Sedan, presented
to him the rare distinction of the Iron Cross of the
first class. Prince Albert also received the warm
congratulations of General Moltke upon the brilliant
manner in which he had carried out the conceptions
of the great strategist. It was on this occasion that
the distinctive name of " Army of the Meuse " was
given to the several corps combined under the
prince's chief command.
On the 5th of September the Germans moved once
more forward upon the French capital Before Prince
Albert left, he went to express his warm regretful
feelings of sympathy to poor Marshal M'Mahon
who was lying grievously wounded in Sedan. The
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Btatement, said to have been made by the wounded
French marshal on the occasion, that he had intended
on the Ist of September to break in through the
direction of Montm^y, instead of Mezi^res, ae had
been erroneously thought at Gennan head-quarters,
cannot be discussed here. It would be travelling
beyond our record ; and the avowed sketchy nature
of these brief memoirs must necesaarUy preclude all
attempts of the kind.
On ike forward march on Paris there occurred, on
tiie 9th of September, the sad catastrophe of Laon,
where a maddened Frendi artillery sergeant, Henriot
by name, treacherously blew up the powder magazine
in the duly surrendered citadel, killing and wounding
thereby about one hundred Germans and some three
htindred of his own countrymen.
On the 19th of September, 1870, the Meuee army
took up its position in the great iron zone of in-
closure thrown round Paris by Moltke. The right '
wing of the Meuse army, formed by the 4th corps,
embraced the western part of Paris, from Chatou,
Bezons, ArgenteuU, Epinay, Pierrefitte, to the ridge of
the high road from St Denis to Luzarches ; the guards
extended from Stains, over Dugny, Le Bourget, and
Blanc- Mesnil, to Aulnay ; the left wing (the Saxons),
from Sevran, over Sivry, Cliehy, and Montfermeil, to
CheUea
The Crown Prince of Saxony took up bis head-
quarters at Grand Tremblay, where they remained
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132 Men who have made the
till the 8th of October, when they were transferred
to Maigency.
Prince Albert jiistified most fully the high confi-
dence which King William reposed in him. Through-
out the long and tedious siege he was never once
caught napping, and the yigour and decision of his
character served more than once to nip in the bud
what might otherwise have proved later on an annoy-
ance or even a danger to the befiieging army. Thus,
when the French had, in the morning of the 28th
of October, succeeded in carrying the village of Le
Bouiget, and it was represented to the prince that
the position was barely of sufficient importance to
justify the expenditure of many human lives upon
its recapture, he, seeing at once, with his clear
military mind, how dangerous the place might turn
out in the end ejiould the enemy establish powerful
and well-supported batteries there, gave peremptory
orders to re-take it at any coat — orders which were
brilliantly executed by the guards, unhappily with
heavy losa
On the 30th of November the Saxons and the
WUrtembergers (who had by this time been added
to the forces constituting the army of the Meuse)
had to bear the brunt of the fierce sortie made by
General Ducrot. About 1,000 Saxons and 1,500
WUrtembergers fell, killed and wounded, in that most
hotly-contested encounter, which still left the import-
ant positions of Brie and Champigny in the hands of
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the French. This was the so-called first battle of
Villiers-sur-Mame.
Two days after, on the 2nd of December, Ducrot
made his second great effort to break through the
beeaeging lines. It was on this occasion that the
French general, in French theatrical feshion, parodied
the Spartan mother's farewell address to her son
departing for the battle — "With this shield, or on
this shield " — by a grandiloquent proclamation that
Paris should see him return victorious, or brought
back dead I He returned neither victorious nor dead,
bat in a perfectly satisfactory state of comparative
physical well-being. The great effort may be said to
have been doomed to failure from the first, as the
Crown Prince of Saxony was not only fully prepared
to receive the onset of the enemy, but had even been
beforehand with the French, and had already re-
captured Brie and Champigny before they came out.
But the French s<yrtie en masse had been planned
with great military skill notwithstanding, and the
French fought most bravely, as the great losses
suffered by the Grcrmans amply showed. One Saxon
re^ment alone lost- nearly forty officers and nine
hundred men in the fight !
The attempts made from the 20th to the 25th of
December proved equally fruitless.
On the 27th of December Mont Avron was bom-
barded, and on the 30th the works erected by the
French were destroyed by Prince Albert's troops.
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134 Men who have made the
On the IStli of January Prince Albert attended the
proclamation of the new Genuan Empire, when the
new emperor bestowed upon him the high Ordre
pour le M&rite, with oak leaves. The day after,
the artillery of the 4th corps, under the prince's
orders, aided General Kirchbach's 5th corps in re-
pulsing Trochu's last desperate attempt to break
through.
On the 9th of March the army of the Meuse and
the third army, up to Uiis date led by the Crown
Prince of Prussia and Germany, were joined together,
and the chief command over the whole force before
Paris iutrusted to the hands of Crown Prince Albert
of Saxony, who took up his bead-quarters at Com-
pi^gue, where his forty-third birthday was celebrated
on the 23rd of April with jousts and quadrilles on
horseback, and other similar nulitary rejoicings and
amusements.
Prince Albert had to keep his eyes open during
the troublous days of the Commime and the fierce
struggle between the latter and the Versailles govern-
ment. On the 17th of May he was forced to retrans-
fer his head-quarters from Compi^^e to Margency, to
be nearer the scene of the actual conflict
On the 28th of May he received, the second time
within four months, the news of the capture of
Paris.
On the 9th of June he set out on his return to
Germany. He received most hearty welcome from
New German Empire. 185
the people of Berlin on the day of the triumphal entiy,
when the emperor bestowed upon Tiinn the rare dis-
tinction of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross.
On the 11th of July he held his triumphal entry
into Dresden, where he received the staff of a field-
marshal general of the German empire, as has
already been stated.
After the death of King John, his father, on tjie
29th of October, 1873, he ascended the throne of the
kingdom of Saxony.
Now a few words about the future. It wodd be
a singular misapprehension of the political situation
of the present to believe it at all likely that the
military career of a general like King Albert can
be at an end. He will have to appear in the field
again sooner or later. The question may seem of
some importance, then, whether he has ever frankly
accepted the result of the war of 1866.
There are many people in Prussia, even among
the officers of the army, who seem at least to doubt
the absolute sincerity of the present King of Saxony
in his submission to the lead of Prussia. They vnll
not believe that the bitter antagonist of 1866, the
man who then threw the whole ardour of his soul
into the contest with Prussia, can have altogether
dropped and forgotten his former intensely hostile
feelings, and taken instead to a frank and sincere
friendship d toute ^reum for his former foea
There is to be found in the history of Saxony an
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Men who have made the
awkward episode — in 1813, at the battle of Leipzig,
when the Saxons went over in a body from the
French to the German camp in the midst of the
fight. It may be called over and over again a daring
deed of unconquerable patriotism that they did so ;
still there is always something revolting to the moral
feeling in an act of treachery. If the Saxons had
boldly declared before the battle that they would
no longer consent to be led into the fight against
their own feUow-countr3anen, the matter would have
stood very differently. But to wait till the battle
was fairly engt^ed, and then to go over to the other
side, may be defended, indeed, upon the score of
prudence, or rather of serpent wisdom. But before
the forum of conscience it must be condemned aa
a most immoral act notwithstanding.
That the then King of Saxony had no direct con-
nection with this act of treachery of his army
seems to have been pretty conclusively established
at the time. Personally he remained faithful to the
fallen man whose fortunes he had shared in the
times of his phenomenal prosperity. Still he did
not altogether escape what I, in this particular
instance, feel disposed to call the brand of calumny.
There were people unbelieving enough in his sincerity
to impute to him a crafty calculation to secure a
friendly footing in both camps.
Be tiiis as it may, however, to return to the present
King of Saxony, there were not few, it appears, who
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Neio German Empire. 137
looked Buspicioufily upon the daogerous delay which
occurred in the attack of the Saxon corps in the
battle of Gravelotte. The lat brigade of the Prus-
sian guards had made desperate attempts to cany
the key of the enemy's position at St. Privat ; but
the French fire had proved too miirderous. The
Saxony artillery, which was expected to come up
from Roncourt, to take the French positions in flank,
did not come up for hours, it is said, and the
Prussian guards had a most anxious time of it
He who remembers how the French at the Alma,
exposed to a murderous Russian artillery fire, felt
much inclined to quarrel with us for our apparent
delay in coming efiectively to tiieir aid, and how
the aides-de-camp of the French commander were
riding up to the English lines shouting, "Mais
Dieu de dieitx, que /aitea-vous done, vous autres ?
Vous ne voyez done pas qu'on now* Scrase ! " — he
who remembers this, I say, will easily understand
also the impatient feelings of the Prussian guards
before St. Privat ; and will not find it altogether
inexplicable, perhaps, that a momentary doubt should
have taken possession of some minds whether the
Crown Prince of Saxony might not be meditating
a coup de Leipzig.
I, for one, feel most fully convinced that anything
more absolutely unfounded could not well be conceived.
Tet I have heard the assertion made, and in more
than one quarter. The explanation of the delay in
Men who have made the
the appearance of the Saron artilleiy on the field is
very aimple. The wood between Malancourt and
Roncourt was in the hands of the French, nrho had to
be driven out first, before the Saxon artillery could
take up ita proper position behind Roncourt This
was accomplished at last by two battalions of the 7th
in&ntry, led on by Colonel Abendroth and Captain
BrezeckL So soon as the wood had been taken,
sixteen Saxon batteries took the French position in
Sank, and soon after the Prussian guards and the
Saxon grenadiers combined carried St Privat in
right good style.
The least shadow of a foundation for the grave im-
putation insinuated by some upon the present King
of Saxony's secret contingent intentions on the day
of Gravelotte may therefore fairly be dismissed.
Still, on the other hand it would certainly be going
too far to claim for King Albert any very warm and
sincere feeling for the new German empire and for
the emperor. King Albert and his brother George —
the latter, perhaps, still more than the former — con-
tinue to the present day Saxon particularists,
omitting no opportunity, fitting or unfitting, to show
that they are but lukewarmly-inclined towards the
empire, and that they are always ready to go in for
the defence of their reserved rights and privileges,
both real and fancied.
King Albert continues to the present the very
warm friend of the Austrian emperor, and, in the
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New German Empire. 139
event of certain contingencies and complicationB, it
might not be altogether wise, perhaps, to intrust
this very hot Austrian and Romaniat, and warm
admirer of Beust and his most fatal anti-German
policy, with the command of the Saxon portion of
the great German army. At least, this seems to be
the feeling in more than one German military circle
in which the writer of this memoir ha£ had occasion
to move.
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FIELD-MARSHAL GENERAL HERWARTH
VON BITTENFELD.
At the time when the Franco-Gennan war of 1870-
71 broke out, the Prussian army numbered only
one field-marshal general, to wit, old Father Wrangel,
and one master-general of ordnance, to wit, Prince
Charles, the only now surviving brother of the
present emperor of Germany.
On tiie 28th of October, 1870, the Crown Prince
and Prince Frederick Charles were raised to the
rank of field-marshal general On the 16th of June,
1871, the great Moltke was invited to shed additional
lustre upon the highest rank and position in the army
by joining his own name to the glorious list. Prince
Albert, a younger brother of the emperor, was at
the same time named colonel-general of cavalry,
with the rank of field-marshal in the army (he died
on the 14th of October, 1872). On the 11th of
July, 1871, the present King of Saxony received the
marshal's hAton.
The rank of field-marshal general has been bestowed
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New German Empire. 141
also by the emperor-kiug upon Generals Steinmetz
and Hervarth von Bittenfeld, with date of the 8th of
April, 1871 ; upon General Roon at the end of the
year 1872, and, lastly, upon General Manteuffel and
Prince Frederick of the Netherlands.
Field-Marshal Herwarth von Bittenfeld is a scion
of the ancient noble house of the Herwarths von
Hohenbui^, an old Catholic family of WUrtemberg.
The grand&ther of the field-marshal seceded to the
Protestant faith in the first part of the 18th cen-
tury, and took service in the Prussian army. He fell,
bravely fighting at the head of his regiment (Prince
of Wied), in the murderous battle of Kolin. One of
his sons fell in the disastrous battle of Jena, 1806,
whilst the other son, the father of the field-marshal
and of General Hans (John) toq Bittenfeld, was
grievously wounded the same day at Auerstadt. He
recovered, however, and died afterwards at Berlin as
general, in 1.832.
Charles Eberhard Herwarth von Bittenfeld, lie
subject of this memoir, was bom on the 4th of
September, 1796, at Grosswerther, in the Prussian
province of Saxe. At the age of fifteen he entered
the then so-called normal infantry battalion in the
simple capacity of a private soldier (15th of October,
1811). The year after, he was made ensign, and on
the 21st of February, 1813, second lieutenant
At the outbreak of the war of 1813, the second
regiment of the foot guards was formed, Herwarth's
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Men who have made the
battalion being one of the constituent parts. The
young ofBcer gained some distinction in the campaign
of 1813, and more especially in 1814, when he was
present at the storming of Montmartre, on the 30th of
March, and took two French guns near the village of
Pantin.
After the definitive conclusion of peace in 1815,
lieutenant Herwardi acted as adjutant up to 1821,
when he attained his captaincy. It took him fourteen
years to move up another step in the army, so that
his advancement could not be caUed very rapid. It
wa£ on the 30th of March, 1835, that he was trans-
ferred as major to the Landwehr infantry regiment
of the guard (reserve), with whom he joined in the
Kalisch manoeuvres that same year. Twelve years
after, on the 27th of March, 1847, he was made lieu-
tenant-colonel and commander of the Ist regiment
of foot guards, having previously held the temporary
command of the Emperor Francis regiment.
In 1849 he attained his full colonelcy, and the
year after the command of the 16th infantry brigade
was conferred upon him.
When, somewhat later on, the signs of the times
seemed to point unmistakably to war with Austria,
Herwarth received the command of the combined
brigade of the division Benin, concentrated at
Kreuznach in anticipation of the event — which after
all did not take place, the whole affair ending in
smoke and in the disgrace of Olmiztz.
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Colonel Herwarth exchanged the command of the
combined brigade for that of the Prussian garrison
of Frankfort-on-the-Maine.
On the 23rd of March, 1852, the king made him
major-general ; and two years after, the highly import-
ant position of governor of the fortress of Mayence
was introsted to him. In 1856 he took the command
of the 7th division of the Pruasian army. Two
years after he was made lieutenant-general, and
appointed to the inspection of the Austrian con-
tingent of the German federal army.
In 1860 he was promoted to the command of the
7th corps of the Prussian army (the Westphalians),
which he led the year after in the great autumn
manCBnvrea on the Rhine. As a special mark of hia
satisfaction with the excellent state of his corps,
King William bestowed upon General Herwarth von
Bittenfeld the chiefship of the 1st Westphalian
infantry regiment. No. 13.
On the 27th of March, 1863, Herwarth von
Bittenfeld attained the rank of general of infantry.
In 1864 he led a division of his corps in the
Danish war, and after the transfer of Prince
Frederick Charles to the chief command of the
allied Austrian and Prusaian forces, vice Field-
Marshal Wrangel, retired from service, he had the
command of the Prussian corps intrusted to his
hands.
After the lamentable fiasco of the London Cou-
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Men who have made the
ference, and ita final ending in smoke, the 25th of
June, Herwarth Tesolved to take the Island of Alsen.
He made his dispositions entirely upon his own
personal responsibility, but with such transcendent
skill and such absolute foresight of every possible
contingency, that the operation was triumphantly
accomplished, 29th of June, 1864. This capture of
Alsen stands forth brilliantly as one of the rarest
deeds of arms in the history of war. It would of
itself suffice to establish Herwarth von Bittenfeld's
cUum to the name and fame of a great commander
in the field.
After the conclusion of the peace of Vienna,
Herwarth von Bittenfeld was appointed to the
supreme command in the Elbe duchies. He took
up his residence at Kiel He had by no means
an easy position there, as he found himself brought
constantly into collision with the fooUsh Pretender
of Augustenburg, whose overweening conceit, joined
to his blind reliance upon Austria and the Frankfort
clique, imder the leadership of Beust, made it a
matter of extreme difficulty to keep on terms of
even common courtesy with him.
Herwarth did not see the last of it, however.
Even before the conclusion of the convention of
Gastein, in 1865, he was recalled &om the duchies,
and appointed to the command of the 8th corps of
the Prussian army, with head-quarters at Coblentz.
In 18C6, when General Moltke, in conformity with
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New German Empire.
his great principle, to march in separate columns, but
strike the decisive blow with united forces, formed
three distinct armies for the projected Bohemian
campaign, the distinguished honour of leading one of
these armies, to which Schlotheim and Brandenstein
afterwards gave the distinctive name of the army
of the Elbe, was conferred upon General Herwarth
von Bittenfeld.
The army of the Elbe numbered from 40,000 to
43,000 effectives. The Auatro-Saxon army, which
had the special task assigned to it to defend the line
of the Iser, and interpose between the junction of
the Elbe army with the first army under Prince
Frederick Charies, exceeded this number by nearly
70 per cent
The rapidity of Herwarth's movements seems to
have disconcerted the Austrian general, Clam-GaJlas,
under whose chief command the Saxon corps tmder
Prince Albert had also been placed. Already as
early as the 26th of June the Prussian general made
his appearance with part of his forces at Htihner-
wasser, a small place in the Bunzlau district m
Bohemia.
The Austrian brigade Leiningen, forming the left
wing of the Austro-Saxon Iser army, pushed forward
from MUnchengiUtz, had taken up a very strong posi-
tion here. Count Gondrecourt, the adlatus of 01am-
Gallas (and subsequently his successor), commanded
in person.
VOL. II. ol^ilizedbyGOOgle
146 Men who have made the
The fight commenced on the morning of the 26th
of June with a moat vigorous attack of the Prussians
upon the wood situate before Hllhnerwasser, in the
direction of the frontier. The Austrians were, after
hard fighting, driven from the wood into the small
town, and from there again into the open beyond,
the Prussians having by noon succeeded in taking up
an advanced position in the direction of Weisswasser
and MUnchengratz. In the evening Count Gondre-
oourt made several desperate attempts to dislodge
the Prussians, which ended, however, in his total
discomfiture, his forces being driven back across the
Toperberg and beyond Upper Gruppay.
There was now no further obstacle in the way
of an advance of the Elbe army upon MUnchengratz,
to effect its jimction there with the army under
Prince Frederick Charles.
It must be admitted that Benedek's strangely con-
fused and contradictory orders {for which the general
was perhaps not altogether responsible, however, as
he was driven nearly to his wits' ends by the emperor
aud his military cabinet's constant stupid interference
with his plans and projects) placed Clam-Gallas and
Albert of Saxony in an extremely difficult position.
They had had orders to hold the Iser line to the last
extremity ; yet barely had the news of the disaster of
Huhnerwasser reached the ears of Benedek, when
that general at once gave the opposite order — to wit,
that Clam-Gallas and the Saxons should at once
Digilized by Google
New German Empire. 147
retire upon Gitschin, a most difficult operation, which
they were called upon to execute in the face of a
victorioufllj advancing foe.
They had no choice, however. So they accepted
the battle at MUnchengratz.
This small town, of about four thousand souls,
lies also in the Bunzlau distiict, on the left bank of
the Iser, on the Kralap and Tumau Railway line,
some seven EngtiBh miles south-west of Turnau.
The corps of Clsm-Gallas and the Saxons under
Albert stood here opposed to a portion of the army
of Prince Frederick Charles, and part of the former
under Herwarth von Bittenfeld. The latter had to
take the Kloster village, the former Musky Hill and the
vill^e of the same name. Herwarth crossed the Iser
above MUnchengratz on a pontoon bridge, stormed
the village, climbed up the steep heights of the
Austro-Saxon position before MUnchengitLtz, and
almost entirely turned the corps of Clam-Gallas ;
whilst Prince Frederick Charles carried Musky HUl,
the villages of Musky and Dneboch, and the ruins
of Bossin. There remained but little more fighting
to be done to occupy Milnchengratz, and to complete
the junction of the two Prussian armies and the
capture of the line of the Iser. The Austrian losses
were very heavy. Fourteen hundred unwounded
prisoners fell into the hands of the victors, who paid
for their great success the comparatively small price
of some 330 men killed and wounded, almost equally
L 2 '>"
148 Men who have made the
distributed between the first army and the army of
the Elbe.
In the decisive battle of Koniggratz, Herwarth
voQ Bitteufeld played a most prominent part It has
been said, indeed, by some critics, that in this battle
he had not carried out thoroughly Moltke's instruc-
tions, and that the lack of vigour shown by him had
subsequently made possible the escape of Benedek's
beaten army. It is not easy to see how these critics
could support this charge against the marshal were
they seriously called upon to prove it. Herwarth von
Bitteufeld acted with the utmost vigour throughout
that hot day of the 3rd of July. By storming the
villages of Problus and Prim (or Przim), he absolutely
crushed the Austrian left wing. It seems to me that
all these charges brought against different generals
and troops may in the end find their answer in
Frederick Charles's alleged precipitate opening of
the ball two hours sooner than the other leaders had
been led to expect
Be this as it may. King William showed bis appre-
ciation of the general's great services on the 3rd of
July, by bestowing upon him even in the evening of
that glorious day the high distinction of the Order of
the Black Eagle, a sad consolation, after all, for the
loss of a dearly-beloved son who fell in the attack
on Problus.
After the conclusion of peace with Austria, General
Herwarth von Bittenfeld was placed A la suite of the
New Geiinan Empire.
secund regiment of foot guards. He resumed his
command of the 8th corps.
Iq 1870 the king intrusted to him the highly re-
sponsible and most important charge of governor-
general on the Rhine and of all the western provinces
of the kingdom. He proved himself worthy of the
high trust reposed in him, by organizing with the
utmost vigour and rapidity, and with consummate
skill, an effective defence of the land placed under
his protecting care. Happily, the war took a
very different turn ; bat the excellent defensive
measures taken on the Rhine by Herwarth von
Bitteofeld excited the admiration of all men able to
judge of such matters ; and they would no doubt
have brilliantly stood the test of an actual French
invasion.
Herwarth von Bitteufeld had lost a son in 1866, at
Problus, as we have seen. In 1870 he was doomed to
suffer other most grievous losses. A second son feU
at VionviUe, a third at St. Privat, whilst a fourth was
grievously wounded at Courcelles. Military glory is
an expensive luxury, and the price to be paid for it is
occasionally most bitter.
On the 8th of April, 1871, Herwarth von Bittenfeld
was finally raised to the highest rank in the army,
and permitted to rest at last on his well-earned
laurels.
He took up his residence at Bonn, where he, cele-
brated, on the 15th of October, 1871, in rare bodily
150 Men who have made the
and meutal vigour, the jubilee of the sixtieth anniver-
saxy of his taking service in the army. Congratu-
lations poured in on him from all sides on this festive
The field-marshal, who is now in his seventy-
ninth year, continues still in vigorous health. His
younger brother, John, who is eeventy-five, is aUo
still a healthy, active man. He retired from the
service some time since, as general of infantry. In
1866 he was military governor of the province of
Saxony, He has taken up his residence iu the
Prussian capital.
A cousin of the two, Frederick Adrian, who is also
seventy-four, retired from the service some time ago,
as general of infantry. Up to 1870 he was governor
of Konigsberg. He now lives at Merseburg.
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New German Empire.
FIELD-MARSHAL STEINMETZ.
Charlis Fbedebick ton Steinhetz was bom at
Eisenach, on the 24th of December, 1796. He was
a mere youth of sixteen when the momentous events
of 1812-13 called him, along with thousands upon
thousands of other sons of Germany standing eqiially
on the very threshold of youth, under the glorious
banner of liberation, unfurled to free the great father-
land from the vilest and most crushing yoke an
insolent conqueror had ever yet in the history of
the world attempted to fasten upon a noble people.
Having been originfdly destined and educated for
the military career, he entered the Prussian army
as lieutenant His daring bravery gained him the
rare distinction of the Order of the Iron Cross
(1814).
When peace was at last concluded, in 1815, young
Steinmetz eagerly, and assiduoudy took up again
the pursuit of his military stadiea, interrupted by
the waz. His advancement .in the. service, was by
, ii.;,Googk'
152 Men who have made the
no means rapid, as we find him in 1835 still a
simple captain, in command of a company of grena-
diers in the Emperor Francis regiment
A few years after he was promoted to the rank
of major, and placed in command of the DUsseldorf
Landwehr battalion of the guards. This position
he exchanged soon after for the command of the
reserve battalion of the guards, then in garrison
at Spandau.
In 1848 we lind him lieutenant-colonel in command
of the 2nd regiment of infantry. At the head of
two battalions of this regiment he took his fair share
in the Berlin street fight of the 18th of March.
He afterwards went with his regiment to the war
in Schleswig-Holstein.
After the armistice of Malmo, Colonel Steinmetz
was appointed Governor of the Berlin Cadet-house,
and promoted to the rank of major-general He
commanded for a time a brigade of the guards, then
a division in the army, being raised to the rank of
lieutenant-general, until he was finally named general
of infantry, and had the command of the 5th Prussian
corps bestowed upon him, with head-quarters at
Posen,
It was only in 1866, when he was near seventy
years old, that the first real opportunity was aflbrded
him to justify the high trust reposed in him. His
5th corps formed part of the second army, under the
command of the Crown Princp. With this corps.
New German Empire.
aided only by a brigade of tlie Cth corps, General
Steinmetz defeated successively at Nachod, Skalitz,
and Schweinscbadel, the 6tti Austrian corps under
Ramming, the 8 th under the Archduke I^eopold, and
the 4th iinder Feetetics, taking &om them two ban-
uers, two standards, eleven guns, and six thousand
unwounded prisonera Altogether the losses inflicted
upon these three corps, which constituted nearly the
half of Benedek's army, were most cnuihing ; and
it may well be said that the three days of Nachod,
Skalitz, and Schweinschadel, so disastrous to Austria,
prepared and initiated as it were the great final defeat
The battles of Nachod, Skalitz, and SchweinschMel
have been sufficiently recorded already in the memoir
of the Crown Prince. The meed of glory justly
claimed there for the royal commander of the second
anny does not detract, however, from the high merit
of General Steinmetz, which was indeed most fuUy
acknowledged by the noble chief himself, who de-
manded and obtained for the general the rare dis-
tinction of the Order of the Black Eagle, gained
on the field of battle.
After these hard days Steinmetz and his corps
were placed in the reserve, so that they took no
active share in the battle of Koniggratz. Steinmetz
was one of the generals upon whom the gratitude
of the king and nation I>estowed a handsome dotation
after the conrliifion of peace,
Digilized by Google
154 Men tcho have made the
Soon after the tennination of the war of 1866,
he attended the Crown PriDce on his visit to St
Petersburg, where the Emperor Alexander 11. be-
stowed upon him the Order of Ale^mder Newskji
in brilliants.
In 1867 General Steinmetz was elected a member
of the constituent assembly of the North Gennan
Confederation. He represented the district of ZliUi-
chau-Krossen. He took his seat on the Conservative
benches, but did not join very actively in the discus-
sion of the business before the assembly. He was
also subsequently elected a member of the first Diet
of the Confederation.
In the Franco-German war of 1870, Steinmetz
was intrusted with the CMnmand of the first army,
which consisted of the Ist corps under General
Bentheim, the 7th corps under General Zastrow, the
8th corps under General Goben, and the Ist and
3rd cavalry divisions. The Ist corps was, however,
at first retained in Germany (along with the 2nd
and 6th), as the intentions of Austria looked suffi-
ciently doubtful then to justify every possible measure
of precaution against an Austrian suiprise. Subse-
quently, about mid-August, when this threatening
danger might be considered at an end, the 1st corps
joined Steinmetz's army before Metz, together with
the division Kummer, and (temporarily) the Meck-
lenburg division.
The first great feat of arms which fell to the
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New German Empire.
share of the army under Steinmetz was the cap-
ture of the heights of Spicheren, near Saarbrlieken,
and the crushing defeat of a French army of_
four dlTisions, under command of General Frossard.
This battle was fought on the 6th of August, on
the same day as the battle of Worth.
Frossard's corps, supported by nearly the whole
of two more French divisions, and by a most
powerful artillery, had taken up a strong position
on the Spicheren heights and in Spicheren wood.
The 7th German corps was on the morning of the
6th of August stationed at Guichenbach, some six
EngUsh miles from Saarbrilcken on the German side.
About noon the cavalry division of Kheinhabcn
passed through the town of Saarbrlicken, which had
been evacuated by the French. The 14th division
of infantry, under command of General Kameke,
followed. The Germans having passed through the
town, and issuing from the other side, were received
by a warm artillery and infantry fire.
General Kameke at once ordered the attack on
the heights. The German troops had to make their
way to the foot of the hiUs, across an open which
afforded no protection whatever t^ainst the fierce
French fire firom the heights ; notwithstanding which
formidable obstacle, they advanced steadily and with
the utmost intrepidity from the Winterberg southward
upon the steep heights held by the French.
They made some progress up to three o'clock in
.ogle
156 Men who liave made the
the afteraoun, although fighting against fearful odds.
At last the thunder of the cannons brought portions
of the diviaiona of Barnekow and Sttllpuagel to the
aid of the desperately struggling, sadly overmatched
14th division.
General Kameke now tried to take the French in
the left flank, moving down upon them over Stiring.
This attempt was frustrated by the French. Fortu-
nately General Goben arrived with further reinforce-
ments, and took the command.
At this time the French had, indeed, been driven
from Spicheren wood, but powerful reserves coming
up, the Prussians had to give way again for a time.
Soon after six o'clock in the evening, the French
left wing began to press hard upon the Prussians
round Stiring, when the arrival of a few regiments
of Brandenburg infantry, belonging to the second
army (Prince Frederick Charles), changed the face
of affairs, the Prussians now succeeding at last in
carrying the rocky woo<l-covered declivities of the
Spicheren wood was taken once more, and General
Goben ordered the final attack upon the top of
the Spicheren, hilL The 6th division succeeded in ■
getting two batteries along a mountain path up to
this top, and the assault was crowned with com-
plete success.
It was at this period that General Steinmetz
arrived on the field of action. He completed what
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New German Empire.
his great lieutenant, Groben, had so gloriously begun.
The defeated French were forced to retreat.
At first Frossard retired in good order. He in-
tended to fall back upon St. Avoid, where due pre-
parations had been made for such a contingency.
But Steinmetz rapidly pushed forward the 13th
division (GlUmer), which cleverly managed to inter-
pose between the French general and St. Avoid.
Complete demoralization set in now in Froesard's
corps. The orderly retreat degenerated into some-
thing very like wild flight, so that important military
magazines, the camp of an entire French division,
numerous pieces of artillery, a complete pontoon
train, 10,000 woollen rugs, some 200 tons of pro-
visions and tobacco, &c., were allowed to fall into
the hands of the victorious Germans. Two thousand
five hundred unwounded French prisoners were
taken by the Prussians.
The French had fifty-two strong battalions in the
fight, supported by a most powerful artillery. The
Germans had only twenty-seven battalions, with the
artillery of a single division ; besides which, the
French had in their favour the immense advantage
of an extremely strong position. Yet the Germans
carried the day. Their losses were fearfully heavy ;
215 officers and 5,034 men killed and wounded — an
enormous percentage upon the numbers engaged.
The French losses in killed and wounded may be
estimated at about 6,000, as Frossard admitted a
i,,,_,dbyGooglc
Men who Jiave made the
Io38 in his own special corps alone of 270 officers
and 4,000 men.
The battle of Spicheren gave rise at the time to
considerable controversy and comment It was main-
tained that Steinmetz had allowed the fight to be
engaged in in the very teeth of strict instructions
to the contrary received from General Moltke, who,
it was said, had intended to cut Frossard's corps
off by a series of strategic manosuvres.
In times of excitement the most eztraordiDary
statement will pass current and find believers. I, for
one, am convinced that there was no foundation what-
ever or truth for the serious imputation made upon
the old general, that he had deliberately and of malice
prepense set at naught an explicit command &om
head -quarters.
Nor can I believe in the other version of the story,
which was started at the time, to wit, that Kameke
had attacked the French position without orders,
and that Goben, instead of breaking off the attack,
had continued it against express orders. Both
Kameke and Goben have been brought iip in too
good a school of military discipline and subordination
ever to allow the excitement of the moment to run
away with their discretion. ,
I think these stories had their origin at the time
chiefly in the regret naturally felt at the fearful losses
suffered by the Germans in this desperate battle.
The French had apparently intended to defend a
New German Empire. 159
carefully-prepared position on the French Nied ; but
on the 11th of August, the fifth day after the battle
of Spicheren, they retreated to the other bank of the
Moselle at Metz, where they took up a new position
under the protection of the fortress. Steinmetz
followed.
On the 14th of August, the first army under
General Steinmetz occupied the following positions : —
The 1st corps, 1st division, was placed at Cour-
celles-Chauas)', on the road leading from Metz to
St. Avoid ; the second division at Les Etangs, on
the road leading from Metz to Boulay.
The 13th division (7th corps) was placed at Dom-
maugeville.
The 8th corps was placed in reserve at Varize, near
Vionville. The 3rd cavalry division had its station
on the right wing, at St. Barbe ; the first cavalry
division, on the left wing, at Frontigny. 'ITie 14th
division and the 18th division, belonging both to the
second army, under Prince Frederick Charles, were
leaning on the left wing of the first army.
Well, in the afternoon of the 14th of August, the
vanguard of the first army thought there were signs
of an intended move of the French encamped under
the walls of Metz.
Now, as it was a matter of the utmost importance
for the Germans to keep the French in their actual
position before Metz until Prince Frederick Charles
could move upon their line of retreat, Steinmetz at
Google
Men who have made the.
once gave orders to the brigade Goltz to attack the
rear-guard of Decaen's departing corps (which . had
fonneriy been commanded by Bazaine).
The attack was made with such spirit and deter-
mination that the corps was compelled to halt, and
to make &ODt. Farts of Frossard's corps had also to
join in repelling the Prussian onset Immediately
General GlUmer was sent forward witii the brigade
Osten-Sacken, to support Goltz. Eameke and Wrangel
joined in the fray on the left wing, and the final result
was that the French had to abandon for the nonce all
notion of moving away from their encampment.
The French corps Ladmirault had meanwhile
endeavoured to make an impression upon the right
wing of the 1st corps, but the assailants were met
by General Manteufiel at the head of his reserves
with such determination, that they had also to retire
ultimately behind the fortifications. The result of
this battle of Courcelles was, that Prince Frederick
Charles had an additional day given him to bring his
army up, which he turned to most exceUent account.
On the 18th of August, Steinmetz and the army
under his conunand again took a prominent share in
the glory of Gravelotte.
Steinmetz joined afterwards in the siege of Metz.
If the least reliance could ever be placed upon camp
reports and military gossip, one might be led to
believe that General Steinmetz had given offence at
head-quarters by acting too much upon his own
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New German Empire.
impulse, instead of yielding proper obedience to
superior orders.
Other reports, more likely to have some foimdation
in truth, would simply have it that the obstinate old
man (seventy -four) could not be brought to see
that he owed obedience to Prince Frederick Charles,
to whom the cotmuand of the siege of Hetz had been
intrusted.
Be this as it may, however, it was suddenly dis-
covered at head-quarters that Russian neutrality
might after aU not be implicitly relied upon, and
that it would only be a wise measure of precaution
to send an energetic and skilful chief back to Prussia,
to watch over the safety of the frontier. General
Steinmetz was the very man for it, aa the king said.
So the old man was graced with the high title and
full power of Governor-General of Posen and Silesia
— and sent back to Germany.
The new Governor-General of Poaen and Silesia
must somehow have seen through the matter after-
wards, for he repeatedly tendered his resignation to
the king.
It was, however, only after the conclusion of peace,
on the 8th of April, 1871, that his majesty granted the
general's request, bestowing upon him at the same
time the highest rank in the army — that of field-
marshal general.
Field-Marshal Steinmetz also had his share in the
dotations voted subsequently by parliament and
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162 Men who have made the
bestowed by the king. He lives now in Gorlitz,
Lower Silesia, in the enjoyment still of excellent
health.
In 1870 he received also once again the high Order
of the Iron Cross, which he had received first in 1814
when a mere stripling. He is the only man in the
Prussian army who can boast of having had bestowed
upon him, at an interval of nearly sisty years, the two
classes of the same order.
by Google
New German Empire.
XI.
FIELD-MARSHAL MANTEUFFEL.
Thib is one of the latest of his German and Prussian
majesty's marshal creations, and, as has indeed been
the case with every other mark of favour ever
bestowed upon Manteuffel by the king and his
predecessor, the one most coldly received and
most adversely commented upon, not alone by the
general public, but also in high and low nulitaty
circlea
It is, indeed, altogether diflScult to account for the
very lai^ measure of apparently groundless popu-
lar dislike that seems to have fallen to the share
of this man. Surely one would think that hig very
distant relationship, or, perhaps, rather his mere
namesakeship with Otto Theodor von ManteufFel, who
steered the Prussian state bark, foolishly confided to
his guidance by King Frederick William IV., right
under the Caudine Forks of Olmiitz, should not in
itself be deemed such a very heinous oflfence, and
that the enjoyment of even the very highest court
M 2 . Gooylc
164 Men who have made the
favour could barely warrant the attempted clouding
and staining of his name and fame in the estimation
of the people
Yet t^e &ct would seem to be so ; for certainly the
life and the acts and deeds of the man, who has
throughout his career proved himself a loyal servant
of his king and his country, afford no patent clue
to this deep-rooted general hostility which the masses
bear him, and in which so many persons moving in
the higher circles of society seem to join with equal
bitterness — imless it be, perhaps, in some dight
measure, at least, his action as president of the
military cabinet, to which reference will be made
hereafter in the course of this memoir.
Karl Rochus Edwin, Baron von Manteuffel, was
bora at Magdeburg on the 24th of February, 1809.
He was intended and educated for the military
career. In 1826 he entered the regiment of dra-
goons of the guard, and he obtained his lieutenancy
in the same regiment two yeais after.
Having served fifteen years as a lieuteuant, he was
promoted to a squadron in 1843. Soon after, he
became adjutant to Prince Albrecht
In 1848 his good fortune brought him into personal
contact with the king. This was in the days of the
great March rising in BerUn, during which Frederick
William IV. betrayed the whole deplorable weakness
of his character. The young cavalry oflScer stood
manfully by the poor trembling king's side, and
New German Empire. 165
tried hard to instil some of his own courage into the
king's heart
When the worst was over, the grateftd monarch
made Manteuffel his personal aide-de-camp : from this
time forward his fortune was secured. Six years later
we find him already in full command of the 5th
regiment of lancers, then in garrisoD at Dtisseldor£
As his majesty fiincied he could detect tmder the
outer shell of Manteuffel's military ru^edness a fine
talent for diplomacy, the cavalry colonel was in-
trusted with several diplomatic missions, particularly
to Vienna, which, it is said, he performed to the
perfect satisfaction of the king and the government
In 1857 Major-General Manteuffel was appointed
to the performance of somewhat delicate and rather
invidious functions. He was named chief of the so-
called military cabinet in which capacity he had to
deal principally with the " personalia " of the army.
He had to recommend officers for promotion, and to
propose the removal of officers from active service, &c.
If we are to judge General Manteuffel's action and
conduct in this most ticklish position by the results
of the wars of 1864, 1866, and 1870-71, we shall
surely feel inclined to believe that he must have been
guided in his weedings — ruthless, no doubt, more
particularly regarding the higher ranks of the army —
by a most sincere and anxious desire to consult the
truest and best interestd of the country.
Unluckily for him, people felt little inclined to
Google
Men who have made the
believe so at the time ; and even now they will sneer
at his assertion, apparently founded in fact, however,
that he had been the first to clearly and thoroughly
discern Moltke's high geniua, and that he can justly
claim as his doing the appointment of that distin-
guished man to the highest place on the general staff
of the Prussian army.
There are, indeed, many officers who will fully
admit the beneficial character of Manteuffel's man-
agement of the military cabinet ; but they will add,
with a bitter sneer, that the chief had stopped short
in his work of salutary weeding, and that, whilst
he had avowedly removed many incapable and in-
competent officers from the Prussian active service,
he had unhappily left himself untouched — the most
incompetent, the most incapable, the most inefficient
of all- — which sweeping assertion they will then
proceed to support by numerous references to the
patent inefficiency betrayed by the general in the
ware of 1866 and 1870-71.
However, the candid historian, who duly examines
the material placed before him, soon discovers that
most of these proffered references are not references to
actual facts, but to more or less baseless and ground-
less fictions, and that Manteuffel, so far from betray-
ing gross incapacity, as is so roundly asserted by his
detractors, has shown himself on several leading
occasions a most efficient commander in the field.
At the time of Maiiteuffel'R greatest activity in
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New Qerman Empire.
the military cabinet, his close connection with the
high Conservative military party, and his almost
over-ostentatioualy displayed feudalist and absolutist
professions and tendencies, joined to his singularly
inconciliatory, haughty, and arrogant bearing towards
political opponents, excited against him the bitterest
and intensest hostility of the whole Liberal party,
which the circumstance that the prince regent con-
tinued to show the general the same favour as hia
brother the king had done before him, was certainly
not calculated to lessen or appease-
Thus, in 1858 Manteuffel was made general d la
suite; and in 1861, after the accession »f King
William to the throne of Prussia, he was raised to
the rank of lieutenant-general
It was about this time that Councillor Twesten,
one of the leaders of the Liberal party, who, however,
was not yet much known at the time beyond his
own circle, published a pamphlet, destiued to become
temporarily famous, under the title, " What may still
preserve us." In this pamphlet Twesten, among
other things, made a sharp direct attack upon
Manteuffel, whom he qualified as "a disastrously
fatal man in a disastrously fatal position."
The chief of the military cabinet felt stung to
the quick. He sent a fiiend to the bold councillor
to demand satisfaction for his wounded honour. A
duel was the consequence, in which poor Twesten
was wounded. The general had to suffer a short
D,a,i,z.:ibyGoogle
168 Men who have made the
uaprisoninent, but he was left undisturbed in his
position as chief of the military cabinet.
In 1863 Bismarck (so it is asserted, at least) turned
to the best account the gi^t " popularity " — if such
an expression may be allowed under the cireum-
atances — which the general was known to enjoy at
the Hofburg of Vienna, where he certainly was looked
upon aa a persona gratissima — not a very strange
or surprising fact, indeed, considering the strong
pro-Axistrian procUvities which ManteufTel professed
in common with his cousin Otto Theodor. It is
said that Manteuffel had a considerable share in
bringing about the temporary alliance between
Austria and Prussia against Denmark.
In the early part of 1864, when signs were be-
coming apparent of a certain lack of vigour in
the conduct of the war, the general was sent to
Vienna to stimulate the Austrian cabinet. He was
successful in so far, that the occupation of Jutland
by the alUed forces was resolved upon.
After the conclusion of peace, when difficulties
arose between the two good allies, ManteufFel was
always active in endeavouring to smooth them away.
The Gastein convention, which postponed for a time
the inevitable final settlement between Austria and
Prussia on the field of battle, was in a great measure
Manteuffel's work.
From Gastein the general proceeded direct to
Schleswig. He had been appointed governor of that
,,ih;,Goo^^lc
Hew German Empire. 169
duchy and commander-in-chief of the Prussian army
of occupation. Bismarck had willed it so.
The great stateflman, who clearly foresaw the in-
evitable issue of affairs between Austria and Prussia,
and was equally conscious of the almost insuperable
difficulties in his way to convince King William of
the unavoidable necessity of war with Austria,
selected Manteuffel, the stanchest Austrophile in
Prussia, and the man most after Francis Joseph's
own heart, to represent Prussia in the jointly-con-
quered, jointly-occupied Elbe duchies, and to try to
find a modus vivcndi between the joint-occupants.
There could be no doubt that if even Man-
teuffel failed in his honest endeavour to find such
a modus vivendi, the king would take it as the most
decisive proof of Austria's determination not to come
to a fair and equitable understanding with Prussia.
And this conviction once fairly established in King
William's mind, the minister might hope to convince
the monarch of the absolute necessity of this war
from which hia majesty was so sensitively shrinking.
Manteuffel had a hard stand in Schleswig. Gablenz,
the Austrian commander in Holstein, had a much
easier task of it. He might readily enough conciliate
the Holsteiners and the Augustenburg pretender,
the more readUy as the policy of Austria pointed to
the ultimate acknowledgment of the latter as sove-
reign duke of the two duchies.
Manteuffel, on the contrary, had to oppose the
II.;, Google
Men who have made the
wishes of the people of Schleswig, which were at
that time poiutiDg in the same direction. In his
dealings with the Augustenburg pretender, who, in
his ineffable conceit, dared to treat Prussia with
contemptuous disregard, the general had also to
show the rough side of his character.
What Bismarck had foreseen came to pass very
speedily. Manteuffel's eyes were opened to what
Austria really wanted, and the general, who with all
his Austrian proclivities had still a very sound foun-
_dation of Prussian patriotism in him, was rapidly
cured of his illusions anent the noble and chival-
rous feelings entertained at the Vienna Hofburg.
He acted with proper spirit and energy to guard
the interests of his country. When the Augustenburg
pretender, feeling secure of the support of Austria,
Hanover, and Saxony, coolly proceeded to have him-
self proclaimed duke, on the 14th of October, 1865,
at Eckemforde, Manteuffcl briefly informed his
highness, on the 16 th of October, that if he did
not at once desist from his aggressive proceedings,
he (the general) would be compelled to have him
arrested.
From this time forward the last spurious shade of
the imaginary entente conliale between the two great
German powers was gone— irretrievably gone; and
matters rushed on henceforth irresistibly to the final
appeal to ordeal by battle.
When General Gablenz, in violation of the Gastein
, ii.;,Gooyk'
New German Empire.
convention, and in most flagrant encroachment upon
Prussia's good right, summoned the Holatein Estates
to assemble in general meeting at Itzehoe on the llth
of June, 1866, Manteuflfel, by order of his king,
sent word to Gablenz that, "Austria having chosen
to tear the Gastein convention asunder, he (Man-
teuflfel) was resolved to assume the co-government in
both duchies ; and that he would accordingly march
into Holstcin with his corps on the 7th of June.
Upon this Gablenz evacuated Holstcin, taking the
Augu8t*;nburg pretender away with him.
On the 7th of June Manteuffel occupied Itzehoe,
which of course put an end to the intended meeting
of the Estates.
On the llth of June Gablenz evacuated Altona,
and recrossed the Elbe.
The nice little plan hatched between King George
of Hanover, the Austrian Gablenz, and the Augua-
tenburg pretender had been to call the Schleswig-
Holsteiners to arms, and to march them jointly
with Gablenz's corps and the Hanoverian army direct
upon Berlin !
Manteuflfel was beforehand with these poor plotters.
On the 15th of June he entered the kingdom of
Hanover, and on the 18th he occupied Stade, the
very place which had been intended for the joint
gathering of the " three hosts " that were to march
upon Berlin. He found at Stade large stores of
munitions of war, &c., which he took iKwsession of.
i.dbyGoogle
172 Men who have made the
As he was moving rapidly forward. General Gablenz
retreated precipitately over Harburg to CaaseL
General Manteuffel was present at the affair of
Langensalza. He was under the supreme command
of General Vogel vonFalckenstein, with whom he
made that marvellous one month's campaign in
Hesse and Francony, which must always be looked
upon as the most glorious episode in tlie great
war of 1866.
On the 19th of July, 1866, Vogel von Falckenstein,
who on the 16th had entered the free city of Frank-
fort-on-the-Main, was most 'uoagldierly I and un-
expectedly recalled from his command, under the
very colourable pretext, to say the least of it, that
certain circumstances and contingencies imperatively
demanded the presence of an energetic Prussian
governor-general in Bohemia 1
Manteuffel succeeded Vogel von Falckenstein in
the command of the array of the Main. It was an
unlucky advancement for him, as Falckenstein's
strange recall from the scene of his triumphs was
by many imputed to Manteuffel's machinations, an
imputation which must now be considered to have
been utterly groundless, although it would appear
that one of the parties most interested in the affair,
Falckenstein himsdf, believed in it.
■ Years after, in 1871, when the great dotation
question was being eagerly and warmly discussed,
more especially in connection with the share die king
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New German Empire.
intended to bestow on Manteuflfel, an injudiciouB
friend of the general's ventured to allege, in a paper
sent to tlie Augshurger Allgemeine Zeitung, and
to the Kreuz Zeitung, among other things, that
Vogel von Falckenstein had, in 1866, from personal
hostility to Manteuffel, given the latter no chance of
exchanging shots, or crossing swords with the
enemy.
It became soon patent now to all the world that
Vogel von Falckenstein had not forgotten 1866, and
that he retained still his original impression of
Manteuffel's complicity in his removal, for the article
in the two journals at once brought old " rough-and-
ready " into the field in full armoiu: and red-hot
fighting humour.
In a brief cavalier missive to the Kreuz Zeitung,
he said, with a covert sneer, that the writer of the
Manteuffel laudation was evidently not aware that
the general had had the occasion given him on the
day of Kissingen, and the day after, to exchange
shots with the enemy, and the troops of Manteuffel
had also been engaged at Langensalza — in the latter
battle, indeed, not by his {Falckenstein 's) orders.
To perceive the force of this sneer, it must be
borne in mind that the days mentioned ranked not
among the most brilliant achievements of the cam-
paign of 1866.
Falckenstein then went on to observe, that if the
writer of the article in question could succeed by no
Digilized by Google
174 Men toko luive made the
other means in glorifying General Manteuffel than
by assailing the reputation of other men, he was
certainly rendering no good service to the general.
He (Falckenstein) must call upon the writer to
produce proof in support of his assertions; and if
he should feil to do so, he could only look upon
his production in the light of a paid article, written
by a hired scribe, and accordingly beneath contempt.
Vogel von Falckenstein is not the only openly-
avowed foe of the former chief of the military
cabinet. The unfortunate a£fair with Greneral Groben
also lives still in the public recollection. By the
by, the authorship of the famous letter in the Frank-
furter Zeitung, which questioned the soldiership of
General Manteufifel in the war of 1870-71, was
attributed to General Groben — rightly or wrongly,
it would be difficult to prove ; but I believe without
a shadow of foundation in fact.
General Manteuffel is said to have borne himself
towards the poor conquered Frankforters with undue
severity and haughty arrogance. He might, perhaps,
plead in justification that he acted upon explicit
instructions. Great indignation was at the time felt
against the Frankforters in the highest quarter.
Manteuffel was instructed to insist upon a war
contribution of some £2,000,000, in addition to
about £500,000 already exacted by Vogel von
Falckenstein.
A demand of so much hard cash was certainly
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New German Empire.
not the way best calculated to ingratiate himself
with the good Frankforters.
With regard to the war in South Gennany, Vogel
von Falekemrtein had left his successor very little
to do.
When the armistice was concluded, Manteuffel was
sent on a special mission to St. Petersburg, where
he succeeded in conciliating the Russian government,
and obtaining its tacit assent to the contemplated
annexation to Prussia of Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover,
Nassau, Electoral Hesse, and Frankfort.
After hia return from St. Petersbui^, he, for a
time, took the command again of the Prussian
troops in the Elbe duchies.
Then he temporarily resigned his military fimctions,
and retired to Naumburg, where he happens to enjoy
a rich prebend, " One leg in the army, the other in
the church, his bead in diplomacy, and his heart
nowhere " — so runs the bitter sneer of one of his
most prejudiced and unjust enemies.
In August 1868, General Manteuffel was appointed
to the command of the Ist corps of the Prussian
army, vice Vogel von Falckenstein retired.
In 1870 he led the 1st corps to Metz, to join
the 1st army under Steinmetz. He arrived on the
14th, when he at once joined in the fight of that
day, repulsing all attacks made upon liia corps by
Ladmirault, and driving the French back behind tlie
fortifications of ilctz.
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176 Men who have made the
Id the subsequent siege of Metz, Manteufiel held
the eastern line of inclosure. Here it was his good
fortune to fight the battle of Noisseville, on the
3lBt of August and 1st of September, when Maxshal
Bazaine made his first desperate attempt to break
through the iron chain drawn around him and
his army.
The French call this battle the battle of St Barbe.
Early in the morning of the 31st of August, Bazaine
led the French guards, with the 4th and 6th corps,
ntmiberiDg altogether some 90,000 men, across the
Moselle. It took the French marshal nigh upon
twelve hours to effect this movement ; and the attack
upon the Grerman positions began only about half-
past four o'clock in the afternoon, languidly at first
ManteufFel had only the Ist corps, the Division
Rummer, the Grand Duke of Hesse division, one
cavalry division, and a few regiments of the 10th
corps, to oppose to the overwhelming French forces.
At half-past six o'clock in the evening the French
carried Noisseville and Nouilly, drove the Germans
back upon Retonfay, and occupied Coincy, and
subsequently also Servigny.
At nine o'clock in the evening the Germans had
retaken Noisseville and most of the other important
positions, when General Changarnier {it is said) led
another furious French attack at ten o'clock at night,
which succeeded in driving the Germans back upon
the plateau of St. Barbe. Servigny was, indeed,
,_,:! by Google
New German Empire. 177
retaken by the Germans, but Noisseville, Coincy, and
Flanville remained in the hands of the French.
Next morning, the Ist of September, the Ist corps
and Rammer's division held the first line on the
battle-field of the day before ; the 25th division {the
Hessians) and the 9th corps (Mannstein) held the
second line. The 7th and 8th corps were placed in
d cheval south and west of the river. The 2nd, 3rd,
and 10th corps held the left bank of the Moselle, in
the direction of Montm^y.
At four in the morning the Pnisaians began their
attack upon Noisseville, which in the space of four
hours was taken and retaken three times. The
French directed all their efforts upon the plateau of
St. Barbe, which they were evidently resolved to
carry by storm.
Prince Frederick Charles, from his bead-quarters at
Malancourt, ordered the 7th corps up to NoiBseville, the
8th being directed to take up the position left vacant
by the 7th. Kummer was ordered to place himself
at ManteufFel's disposition with his entire division.
Flanville and Coincy were carried by storm ; Noisse-
ville was partly burned, and, after seven hours' hard
fighting, the vaUant 3rd French corps, which this day
had joined in the attack upon the German positions,
was finally forced to retreat
At four in the afternoon the French were driven
back everywhere, at Noisseville, Mercy-le-Haut, in the
centre and on the right wing, and soon after the
VOL. II. N. ibyGoogle
178 Men who have made the
Genuaus fully re-occupied the eame positions which
they had held on the 31st of August before the
French sortie en masse.
The losses of the GermaDS in this fierce fight were
120 officers and 2,358 men killed and wounded. The
French lost 141 officers and 2,664 men.
After the capitulation of Metz the old first army
was formed anew (1st, 7th, and 8th corps, 3rd
reserve division, and three cavalry divisions), Man-
teufTel being appointed commander-in-chief over it.
Leaving the 7th corps behind, ManteuflFel started
on the 7th of November over Eheims, in the direction
of Compi^gne, when he suddenly turned off, and
marched rapidly upon Amiena Here he defeated
a French army of 30,000 men on the 27th of
November, throwing them back across the Bomme
upon Arras. On the 30th of November the citadel
of Amiens surrendered.
La F^re had been token on the 27th already.
On the 5th of December General Manteoffel
occupied Rouen. He then concentrated his army,
and, after a series of hard fights on the Hallue, to
the north-east of Amiens, on the 23rd and 24th of
December, he defeated the French north army under
Faidherbe, compelling the enemy to retire into the
northern fortresses.
Upon a renewed attempt of Faidherbe, Manteuffel
gwned another victoiy over him, at Bapaume, on the
2nd-3rd of January, 1871.
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New German Empire.
In all these battles the French army of the north,
whose object it was to march to the relief of the
besieged ParisianB, outnumbered the forces under
Manteuffel in the proportion of two to one.
On the 8th of January, 1871, the king intrusted
to Gfeneral Manteuffel the command over a newly-
formed army, called the army of the south, whose
arduous task it was to be to march across the
mountmns to the aid of General Werder, then
threatened by overwhelming French forces under
General BourbakL
That General Moltke should ever have given his
consent to inlxust the command of an expedition of
such momentous importance as this to an " inefficient,
incapable, and incompetent" leader, is really a little"
too much to be asked to believe. ■
Moreover, the brilliant manner in which the trust
reposed in him was justified by Manteuffel, ought
surely to be held a sufficient answer to the calumnies
of his detractors.
Despite the severe cold and the heavy snowfalls,
the general led some 45,000 men with marvellous
rapidity over the C6te d'Or (Mons Duranus) and the
Jura, cut off the French army of the east under
Bourbatd &om.aIl its lines of retreat upon Lyons, and
forced it finally, by the fight at Pontarlier, where the
Germans took two eagles, nineteen guns, and some
15,000 prisoners, to cross over into the neutral
territory of Switzerland.
Men who have made the
It was this final catastrophe which determined
Gambetta to give way, and may thus be said to have
had a leading ahaxe in the conclusion of peace.
The king appreciated General Manteuffel's great
services at this critical juncture. The Grand Cross
of the Iron Cross and the Order of the Black Eagle
were bestowed upon him.
After the dissolution of the army of the south,
Manteuffet was appointed commander of the second
army (30th of March), and subsequently, on the 20th
of June, 1871, commander-in-chief of the German
anny of occupation remaining on French soil. His
head-quarters were established at Nancy.
In this position General Manteuffel certainly proved
himself the right man in the right place.
After the final evaciiation of France, his majesty
the emperor and king raised Manteufiel to the
highest military rank, and bestowed upon the new
field-marshal also the important post of Governor
of Berlin.
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New German Empire.
GENERAL VOGEL VON FALCKENSTBIN.
Next to Moltke this is imquestioiiably the greatest
Btrategist and the most accomplished staff-officer of
the PnissiaD and OermaD armies, also the most con-
summate tactical leader in the field, and altogether
the first of the great military captains of the age,
thoagh not yet a field-marshal
Ernest Frederick Edward Vogel von Falckenstein
was bom at Breslau (I believe) on the 5th of
January, 1797. His father was a retired Prussian
major, who unfortunately died early, leaving his
family in extremely embarrassed circumstances. The
widow having no means to pay for the education
of her son, was forced to claim the assistance of a
relative of the family, who occupied the high position
of Prince-Bishop of Brealao.
The worthy prelate willingly consented to take the
boy off the poor mother's hands, but on condition
only tiiat he should devote himself to the clerical
profession, for which the unhappy lad had not the
!,,,_,: , Google
Men who have made the
least vocation nor the slightest liking or inclination.
Seeing no other way before him, however, the boy
coDsented, and devoted himself eagerly and assiduously
to those studies which were to prepare and fit him
for his intended future career.
Meanwhile came the great year 1813, with the
universal uprising of the FrussiaD people to shake
off the detested French yoke. Young Edward, though
only ^teen then, felt that he was a Prussian aud
the son of a soldier. He was resolved to join in
the war of liberation. With rare firmness he resisted
the bishop's most powerful arguments, and even his
mother's passionate prayers and tears.
After a hard struggle he at last succeeded in
extorting his family's reluctant consent to enter the
army. But here again he bad to contend against
formidable difficulties. The boy looked sickly, and
his appearance clearly betrayed a weak constitution.
He was therefore rejected by corps after corps to
which he applied for admission.
At last Colonel KlUse, an old &iend of his late
father, took compassion upon young Falckenstein, and
obtained for him admission as volunteer in the West
Prussian Grenadiers. From the instant he had the
chance given him the new volunteer proved his nature
and character as a true soldier by the calm, resolute
courage which he showed on every occasion.
After the battle on the Katzbach he was made
ensign, and in December, 1813, lieutenant
New German Empire. 183
With BlUcher he crossed the Rhine at Caub, in
the New Tear's night of 1814. He distinguished
himself on every occasion, more especially in the
affair of Montmirail, where every officer of his
battalion fell, so that the command ultimately
devolved upon him. Here the youth of seventeen
conducted himself with the cool self-possession of
an old officer, and showed the most consummate
skin in the handling of his men. By way of
reward he was made first lieutenant on the spot,
besides receiving the rare distinction of the Iron
Cross Order.
When the war was over, there was of course no
more talk of the clerical profession. Toung Falcken-
stein stuck to the army. He was, however, painfully
conscious of his nearly total lack of everything in
the shape of military training, and of all technical
koowledge of bis profession. He therefore threw
himself with ardour upon the study of the military
art and science in all its branches, and he succeeded
so well in his efforts that he was soon sent to the
topographic bureau,
Here he suddenly discovered that he had a real
talent for design and also for painting. This talent he
cultivated with his accustomed ardour and assiduity.
He tried his hand more especially at oil-painting.
His really excellent productions in the various
branches of the furt attracted the attention and
gained the young officer the favour of the then Crown
i,,,_,dbyGooglc
Men who have made the
Prince, who subsequently ascended the Prussian throne
as Frederick William IV".
By orders of this prince, Falckenstein established
at a later period the Royal Institute for Painting
on Glass, of which he himself remained for a time
the distinguished head. The magnificent painted
window in the church of St. Mary, near Dantzic, is
a sample of Falckenstein's art-productions in tMs line.
His military advancement was rapid at first, for
we find him as early as 1818 in command of the
battalion of the Emperor Francis Grenadiers, which,
jointly with a battalion of the Emperor Alexander
Grenadiers, formed the guard of honoiir of the mon-
archs at Aix-la-Chapelle during the coDgrees which
assembled there on the 29th of September of that year.
After this he had to wait a loug time for farther
promotion, for in 1848 he was still only a lieutenant-
colonel On the ISth of March of that year be was
woimded in the great Berlio street fight, which did
not prevent him, however, from joining in the Hol-
stein campaign.
Soon after, he obtained his full colonelcy, together
with the command of the rifies of the guard. He
subsequently was appointed chief of the staff to
General WrangeL
In 1864 Vogel von Falckenstein, who had mean-
while attained the rank of general, was Wrangel's
chief of the staff in the Schleswig - Holstein war,
till after the capture of Diippel, when he was
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New German Empire.
appointed Governor of Jutland, — Moltke taking his
place as chief of the staE
It was in this Danish campaign that Vogel von
Falckenstetn first had the opportunity afforded him
of displaying his rare strategic and tactic gifts on
a wider field. Up to this time he had simply been
known as a most meritorious, hard-working, and
painstaking staff-officer, and a most excellent artist
on glass and porcelain. Now he suddenly jumped to
the foremost front rank of leaders in the field.
After the conclusion of peace with Denmark,
General Vogel von Falckenstein was intrusted by the
king with the command of the 7th army corps.
In 1866 the danger which threatened Prussia
fi-om the side of the Austrian allies in the German
Confederation was real and formidable, though the
plot hatched between Gablenz, George of Hanover,
and the Augustenburg pretender had been stifled
ere its possible full development
There remained, however, the Hanoverian army,
numerous, brave, and well appointed and provided
in every way — except in its direction and guidance
— and the armies of the south German states,
which, on paper, reached the formidable figure of
above 200,000 men, and numbered even in sober
reality some 120,000 to 130,000 effectives.
Vogel von Falckenstein was the general chosen
to meet this formidable danger. The forces placed
at his disposal were simply one division of the
i.dbyGoogle
186 Men who have made the
7th corps, the Prussian garrisons withdrawn &om
Mayence and Eastatt, and a few regiments of the
reserve, with some Thuringian and other troops, the
whole never exceeding 50,000 effectives at any one
time whilst he held command, and falling meet of
the time considerably short, of tiuB figure.
He succeeded first in disposing of the Hanoverians,
whose surrender he compelled. This was no doubt
a very good beginning; but it was not all — ^fer
from it ; for the immensely hard problem was now
placed before the general, how to wedge himself
between two hostile armies, eauh of them very
greatly exceeding in numbers the whole force at
his command.
Falckensteio's campaign in 1866 was so crowded
with marches and countermarches and manoeuvres
of every kind, and with actual encounters in the
field, that even a mere outline, to be at all intelli-
gible to the reader, would occupy considerably more
space than we can afford to give here. Besides, a
brief sketch of the campaign will be found in the
memoirs of Generals von der Tann and Hartmann.
Let it suffice then to say in this place, that Vogel
von Falckenstein in this marvellous campaign, where
he literally stood always one to three on the as-
sumption most favourable to his forces, displayed the
highest genius as a military captain.
The boldness of his plans, the precision of his
operations, the rapidity of his movements, the skill
iih, Google
New German Empire. 187
of his dispositions, and the vigour of his attacks,
more than neutralized the formidable advant^ of
threefold niunbers and of excellent positions on the
other side.
He wedged himself successfully between the two
opposing hosts, badlj beating each of them alter-
•nately in detail When, on the 16th of July, about
one month after he had first token the field, he
entered the ancient free city of Frankfort-on-the-
Main as conqueror, there remained very little to be
done to complete the ntter discomfiture axtd military
annihilation of Austria's south German allies.
It has been said that Vogel von Falckenstein, in
his dealings with the conquered Frankforters, showed
over-ostentatiously the very roughest side of his
character. However, there would seem to be good
reason for the probable supposition that he acted
in this upon express instructions &om the highest
quarter, and that he did so with the greatest reluct-
ance only. Nay, it would even appear that he took
upon himself to lower the demand of twenty-five
millions of florins war contribution, which he had
been instructed to make, to six millionB, and that
he gave thereby great ofience in the highest quarter.
Whatever may be the real facta of the case, thus
much is certain, that on the 19th of July, three days
after his triumphant entry into Frankfort, General
Vogel von Falckenstein was recalled from his com-
mand most suddenly, and upon the very colourable
■ Google
188 Men who have made the
pietext that the state of afiatrs in Bohemia absolutely
required the immediate presence in that province of
a most energetic and skilful commander. General
Manteuffel, who was appointed his successor,
speedily showed by Ms harsh and haughty bearing
towards the Frankforters, and by the inilictioD of
a war fine of £2,000,000, in addition to Falcken-
Btein's demand of £500,000, that the old general had
certainly not been removed from the command he
had held so gloriously on account of any reprehensible
roughness in his behaviour to the citizens that had
excited disapprobation in the higher quarters.
Take it as we may, we cannot but look upon it
as a very strange proceeding, to say the least of it, to
remove from his command an approved general aftei
a most brilliantly successful campaign, with all the
work fully accomplished by him, and nothing re-
maining for him to do but to cull his hard-earned
and well-deserved laurels.
After the conclusion of peace, Vogel von Falcken-
stein was of course included in the list of com-
manders to whom the grateful king and nation voted
and gave dotations. With the sum voted to him ho
purchased the Dolzig estate.
In the autumn of the year he exchanged the
command of the 7th corps for that of the Ist,
on which occasion the troops up to this under his
command manifested their high regard for him by
presenting him with a magnificent testimonial.
Google
New German Envpire. 189
The city of Konigsberg, the head-quarters of his
new command, elected him for its representative in the
constjtuent assembly of the North German Confedera- ■
tlon. He took his seat on the Conservative benches.
In the debates upon the organization of the con-
federate army, he strongly insisted upon the three
years' term of service in tiie line, declaring it to be
of the utmost importance in war that a commander
should know and feel that he had under his com-
mand soldiers who fully knew the service and could
be absolutely relied upon. The consciousness of this
would inspire a commander with courage to dare even
venturesome enterprizes, as he (Falckenstein) could
tell the house from his own personal experience.
In 1868 Falckenstein retired from active service,
and went to reside on his Dolzig estate.
But in 1870, when the war with France broke
out, the old general, who was then seventy-tJiree, had
once more a high trust confided to him.
Prussia had no adequate fleet to cope with the
French navy, and it was to be foreseen then that
the French would be likely to endeavour to turn their
vast naval superiority to the most profitable account,
by harassing the North German coasts, and per-
haps attempting landings here and there ; nay, it
seemed even probable that they would try to throw
some fifty thousand men upon some inviting spot of
the coast, which might have proved a very serious
diversion indeed.
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It was iDdispensable, then, to have a most skilful and
energetic commander on the spot, to whom the defence
of the coast lands might confidently be intrusted.
There was truly only one man in the Prussian
army of whom it could be said that he fulfilled all
the conditions required for this high and most difiS-
cult position — Vogel von Falckenstein.
So he was chosen for the trust. He was appointed
governor-general of aU German coast lands — ^that is to
say, of the entire region of the Ist, 2nd, 9th, (md
10th corps of the army of the North German
Confederation.
The l7th division, belonging to the 9th corps, was
left behind to form the nucleus of the coast defencea
The 25th division (Hessians) took the place of the
17th in the 9th corps.
Vogel von Falckenstein, who made the city of
Hanover his head-quarters, displayed all the energy of
his character and the wonderful resources of his high
military genius in providing, within a surprisingly
short space of time, a most efficient system of coast
defence. He organized a numerous and effective
sea-coast guard ; he completely shut up the mouths
of the rivers and the entrances to the harbours ; and
he established so thoroughly efficient a system of
communication and rapid connection all along the
coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic, that the
French fleet did not succeed in even a single
attempt to land.
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New German Empire.
In his internal administration he energetically put
down all attempts at socialist agitation, and he also
speedily made the French officers interned within the
bounds of his government sensible that all attempted
misuse or violation of their word of honour was a
dangerous game to play with him.
When the war was over, and General Vogel von
Falckensteiu was relieved from his command, his ma-
jesty the emperor and king rewarded the great man
by bestowing upon him the Order of the Black Eagle,
whilst Steinmetz, HerwarUi von Bittenfeld, and
Manteufiel were made field-marshals — all three no
doubt good men and excellent efficient officers, but
assuredly not one of the three the equal, even
approximately, of Vogel von Falckenstein.
It must be left to the future historian to find the
cause for Vogel von Falckenstein's sudden removal
from his command in 1866, and the reason for his
being passed over in the marshals' promotion
of 1871.
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Meti who have made the
GENERAL GOBEN.
This is another of the most highly theoretically
and practically accomplished general officera in the
German army.
Augustus Charles von Goben was bom on the
10th of December, 1816, at Stade, in tiie then
kingdom of Hanover. His father was a retired
half-pay captain, who subsequently obtained the
honorary rank of major.
When the boy was about ten years old, he was
sent to the gymnasium at CeUe, which at the time
enjoyed a well-deserved high reputation as one of
the best educational institutes in the north of
Germany. Here he devoted himself mo3t diligently
to the acquisition of solid leammg in the several
branches of knowledge that then constituted a sound
education, with special reference to a future military
career.
In October, 1833, young Giiben entered the Pros-
aian service as a military aspirant. He joined the
Lin.KibyGoogle
New German Empire. 193
24th regiment of infantry (musketeers), then stationed
at New Ruppin.
About a twelvemonth after, he attained his ensigney,
and on the 15th of February 1835, he was gazetted
lieutenant.
Goben was a bom soldier in the fullest sense of
the word. His theoretical military studies, which
he pursued with tiie greatest ardour, could not quite
satisfy his soldierly craving. He thirsted for an
opening that might enable him to practise his
darling profession in actual warfare. As there
seemed but little hope that the Prussian service
would' for a long time to come afford any such
opening, the young officer resolved, after mature
reflection, to resign his commission in the Prussian
army, and to carry his sword to Spain, where just
at that time Don Carlos and Donna Christina (in
the name of her daughter Isabel), or rather their
respective partisans, were fighting for the crown.
This was in the year 1836.
Considering that of the two pretenders to the
thorny throne of Spain, Don Carlos might at least
fairly be looked upon as the more legitimate and the
more respectable, or rather the less disreputable,
young Goben resolved to offer his sword and service
to him.
The appearance of an accomplished young officer
was hailed with pleasure at the pretender's head-
quarters. Goben received a commission as second
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Men who ham made the
lieutenant, and found at once employment on the
Btaff.
In the first year of hia service he had an oppor-
tunity of distinguishing himself at the battle of
Fuentarabia, which gained him his promotion to
a first lieutenancy.
The year after, he was present at the battles and
encomiters of Peralta, Zembrano, Segovia, Navreda,
Lerma, Yalladolid, and Aranda.
In 1838, he joined as captain in the expedition
to Castile, in which he was severely wounded at
Sotoca.
In 1839, he served at first in the engineers, but
tcr a time he was transferred to the infantry. He
led his company with great distinction in the fights
of Chulilla and Carboneras, and in the winter
campaign in Valencia and Ar^n.
In 1840, Major Goben was again severely wounded
at Teruel. He was now promoted to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel in the engineer corps ; but with
this promotion his promising military career in
Spain came to a close. He remained, indeed, faith-
ful and loyal to the last to the cause which he had
espoused, and it was only after the pretender himself
had given up the struggle in despair that Goben
took his leave of him and of Spain.
Besides the two severe wounds which he had
received at Sotoca and Teruel, he had been wounded
more dightly three times in the course of the war.
Google
New German Empire. 195
He had also twice fallen into the hands of the
Christinos, but he had each time been speedily
exchanged again.
Ex-Lieutenant-Colonel G6ben had to leave Spain
almost penniless, and to wander through France on
foot. It was a painful journey, full of bitter
privations. But he bore all with stoic calm, cheer-
fully, with the buoyant light-heartedness of a true
soldier of fortune.
He reached his father's house in September, 1840.
The year after, he published his war adventures,
under the title, " Four Tears in Spain." This book
created some sensation at the time in military and
political circles.
His inborn passionate love of a soldier's life left
him no rest untU he had succeeded in obtaining
permission to re-enter the Prussian service. He
had of course to begin de novo at the foot of
the ladder.
On the 26th of February 1842, he was gazetted
to a commission in the 8th regiment of infantry, but
ordered at once on the general staff of the army.
The high reputation which he had gained, his
extensive and sound knowledge of the military
sciences, and his practical experience smoothed the
path for him to a more rapid advancement than
falls ordinarily to the share of young officers without
powerful influence to push them.
In three years he passed through the grades of
o 2, ,,, Google
196 Men who liave made the
second lieutenant and first lieutenant to the rank of
captain on the Btaff.
In 1848, he was sent to the head-quarters of the
4th corps at Magdeburg.
In May 1849, he was attached to the division
Hanueken, which was charged to put down the
insurrection in Westphalia.
He was afterwards ordered on the staff of the
commander-in-chief of the army sent into Baden.
Here he had occasion to prove hia high military
capacity in the several affairs of Ludwigshafen,
Waghausel, Ubstadt, Bruchsal, Durlach, Kuppen-
heim, and Eastatt.
After a brief period of service in the 1 6th
infantry regiment, Goben, promoted to the rank of
major, was ordered back to the staff.
In 1855, he was made lieutenant-colonel and
chief of the staff of the 6th corps, from which he
was transferred, in May 1858, to the 8th corps.
In 1860, he was promoted to the rank of colonel,
and sent with several other Prussian oflScers to the
Spanish army operating under O'Donnell in Morocco.
Here he met many of his former antagonists in the
Carlist war.
He remained with the Spanish army throughout
the campaign of 1860, and was present at the
fights at Samsa and Uad-Ras.
Soon after his return from this expedition he was
raised to the rank of major-general, and in 1863,
New German Empire. 197
he obtained the command of the 26th infantry
brigade, which he led in the campaign of 1864
against Denmark, before Diippel, in the storm of
the fortifications, in the crossing to Alseu, and in
the capture of that island, everywhere in such
brilliant fashion that he was rewarded with the
Ordre pour le Merite, as well as with other
Prussian, German, and Austrian orders and war
decorations.
He was also promoted to the command of the
10th division, from which he was soon after (in
May 1865) transferred to that of the 13th division,
with the rank of lieutenant-generaL
His advancement was altogether most exceptionally
rapid. In twenty-three years he attained the same
rank of lieutenant-general which it had taken such
men as Vogel von Falckenstein, Herwarth von Bitten-
feld, and Steinmetz forty-seven long years to climb
up to. Even the so highly-favoured Manteuflel had
been quite thirty-five years about it.
This fact, whilst affording irrefragable proof of
Goben's brilUant talents and his high military
capacity, speaks also volumes in favour of the
ayetem which thus permits the most rapid pro-
motion of a deserving officer, though he happens
to be alt<^ther unsupported by the accident of
rank or wealth, or by powerful family connections.
In 1866, Goben operated first in Hanover at the
head of his division ; subsequently he was Vogel
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Me^i who have made the
Ton Falckenstein's most e£Bcient aid in the cam-
paign on the Main. That great general knew
how thoroughly to appreciate him at his just high
value. Goben commanded the forces in the suc-
cessful affairs of Dermbach, Eissingen, Laufsich,
AschaflFenburg, Werbach, Tauber-Bischofsheim, and
Gerchsheim.
He Bubsequently published a series of papers oij
some of these fights (in the Allgemeine Militdr-
zeitung), which by competent judges are held to
rank among the most sterling productions in the
military literature of the day.
When the Franco-German war broke out, Goben,
promoted to the rank of general of infantry, had
the command of the 8th corps intrusted to him.
The 8th corps formed part of the first army under
Steinmetz.
In the memoir of that leader will be found a
brief record of the great battle of Spicheren, which
was fought on the very first day of the opening of
the campaign, and in which Genera! GrOben again
brilliantly proved his high military genius.
General Goben took a glonous part also in the
tremendous fights of Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte,
on the 16th and 1 8th of August.
The 8th corps formed part of the army under
Prince Frederick Charles, which kept Bazaine shut
up in Metz from the 19th of August to the 26th
of October 1870.
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New German Empire,
After the capitulation of Bazaine's army and of
the fortress of Metz, the 8th corps formed again
part of the first army, which was reconstituted under
the command of General Manteuffel, and sent to the
north of E^Mice, to watch the new French army of
the north formed there under the command of General
Faidherbe, one of the best and most skilful among
the French leaders.
The battles of Amiens, on the HaUue, and of
Bapaume were fought and gained by three divisions
only of Manteuffel's army, as the entire 7th corps
had been left behind at Metz ; and out of these
three divisions GSben commanded two. The success
may fairly be set down then, in great part, to his
share.
On the 8th of January 1871, General Manteuffel,
having been appointed commander-in-chief of the
new army of the south, intended for the relief of
General Werder, handed over the command of the
first army to General Goben.
The new chief had barely been ten days iu
command when he dealt the French army of the
north the crushing blow of St. Quentin.
The city of St Quentin had been occupied and
held for twenty-four hours by the army of the
Meuse, on the 2l8t of October 1870.
On the 26th of December it was re-occupied
by troops of the first army, who had to abandon
it again on the 15th of January, when Genend
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Men who have made the
Faidherbe, by a strategic move threatening a diver-
sion in the rear of the first German army, compelled
General Goben to change his position.
On the 17th of January General Faidherbe took
possession of St. Quentin with the bulk of his army,
which consisted of the 22nd and 23rd French corps,
and greatly exceeded in numbers the forces under
Goben, who only had present the 8th corps, part of
the 1st corps, part of the 3rd cavalry division, the
Saxon cavalry division under Count Lippe, the 6th
battalion of Saxon rifles, and the 2nd Saxon horse
battery.
On the 18th there was a preliminary encountsr
between the vanguards of the two armies, which
terminated in the retreat of the French from
Beauvais to St. Quentin.
On the 19th General Goben attacked the French
most vigorously in their positions at Javy, Gougia,
Neuville, St. Amand, and Gaucby.
There was a radical fault in Faidherbe s position :
the two corps of his army were separated by the
canal of Crozal, so that they could only come to the
aid and support of one another by the circuitous
way through St. Quentin.
After several hours' hard fighting, the villages held
by the French were carried by Goben's forces, both
wings of Faidherbe's army being turned, aud the en-
tire French host being thereby forced back. At two
o'clock Faidherbe made a last desperate efibrt with
New German Empire. 201
the 22Dd French corps, supported by a most powerful
artillery force, to recover the lost ground ; but it
was all in vain, and at four o'clock in the afternoon
the French were in full retreat, which soon de-
generated into wild flight in the direction of Cam-
bray and Guise, Valenciennes and Lille.
The Saxon cavalry contributed to the success of
the day by several brilliant attacks.
On the evening of the same day the railway
station of St Quentin was most valiantly carried
by the 19th regiment of infantry, under the lead
of a younger brother of the commander-in-chief.
In this battle of St. Quentin the German loss in
killed and wounded was 94 officers and about 3,400
non-commissioned officers and privates. The French
left several thousand wounded behind in St. Quentin.
Their total loss in killed and wounded must have
been about 6,000. Besides this, 12,000 unwounded
prisoners fell into the hands of the victorious pursuers.
The French also lost six guns.
The French army of the north, the last hope of
besieged Paris, had literally ceased to exist
Goben's victory of St Quentin forms, indeed, one
of the greatest feats of arms in this war, so rich in
glorious triumphs.
In June 1871, when the first army was dis-
solved. General Goben received, besides many other
orders, the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, and
was presented also with the 2nd Ehenau Infantry
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202 Mtn who have made the
Regiment, No. 28. The city of Minden made him
an hoDorary citizen.
General Goben continues still in command of the
8th corps of the German anny, and has his head-
quarters at Coblenz.
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New German Empire.
XIV.
GENERAL WERDER.
Thoitgh placed here among the last in our gallery of
glory, this general ranks inconteatably in every way
the equal of the most distinguished war chiefe of the
new German empire — with the single towering ex-
ception of Vogel von Falckenstein.
Augustus von Werder, a scion of an ancient, noble
family, settled since the fourteenth century in the
old Wenden land between the rivers Elbe and Havel,
was bom on the 12th of September 1808, at Schlosa-
berg, Bailiwick Norkitten, in Eastern Prussia, where
the regiment of dragoons in which his father (died in
1837, at Glogau, as lieutenant-general) was then a
captain was lying in cantonments after the disastrous
campaign of 1807.
The boy received his first education partly at home,
partly at the military divisional school in Glogau,
the father himself taking a prominent share in the
mental and intellectual training of his son. An
earnest man, and a hater and despiser of all mere
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Men who have made the
superficial show, he took the mo3t anxious care that
Augustus should be thoroughly grounded in every
branch of his studies. The boy had considerable
natural giftSj and great facility of apprehension.
Assiduous and diligent withal, he soon gathered a
rich store of varied, sound, and solid information, so
that ere he had yet completed his seventeenth year,
he was in every way well prepared for his intended
profession — the army.
On the 14th of June 1825, young Augustus von
Werder entered the regiment of Gardes du Corps,
in the initial capacity of avantageur, or aspirant
In March 1826, he got his commission of sub-
lieutenant ; at the express desire of his father he was
transferred at the same time to the 1st foot-guards,
where it was probably thought there would not be
so many temptations to pleasure, calculated to with-
draw the young man from his more serious studies,
as in the more brilliant Gardes du Corps.
Young Werder remained for seven years in the
foot-guards, acquiring a thorough practical know-
ledge of the service. He continued all the while
also his theoretical studies with such excellent
success, that in 1833 he was selected as one of the
favoured few in the Prussian service who are sent
to the General War School in Berlin to finish their
scientific military education.
After the completion of the customary course of
three years at the war school, young Werder waa
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New German Empire. 205
sent back to his regiment for two more years'
practical service. He was then transferred, in 1838,
to the 8th pioneer division, that he might acquire
practical knowledge also of that highly important
branch of the service.
In 1839 he was attached as instructor to the cadet
school in Berlin.
In 1840 he was sent to the topographic bureau,
and had several important surveys intrusted to him.
In 1842 he gained his first step in promotion,
being made first lieutenant, after stopping sixteen
years on the lowest rung of the ladder — another
signal instance of slow advancement in the initial
stages of the Prussian service.
A t this time holy Eussia was hard at work
civilizing the barbarians of the Caucasus, and
endeavouring to overcome the stubborn opposition of
the Lesghians, Tschetscbenzes, and other tribes,
who were clinging to their assailed independence with
desperate tenacity.
Here was a splendid opportunity for the new
lieutenant to learn something of actual warfare, which
his superiors determined should not be lost. So
Lieutenant Werder was duly provided with credentials,
and sent to the Caucasus as a kind of Prussian
military commissioner unattached, that he might
study mountain warfare and the mode of fighting of
both parties.
He fully justified the choice which had fallen upon
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him. He was indefatigable in the fulfilment of the
many and varied duties which hia position imposed
upon him. Thus he would ride or march along
with the Cossacks on their reconnoitring expeditions
into the inmost depth of the mountains, or attend the
Bussian infantry and Asiatic militia in their perilous
marches through ravines and defiles. Every pause
which occurred in the active operations of the
Russians he turned to good account by visits to
Tiflia, Kertsch, and the Russian coast defences.
The lessons which he learnt, more especially respecting
the proper mode of using artillery to the greatest
advantage in the defence of long lines of mountain
positions, he turned some thirty years after to
brilliant account in his desperate struggle against
Bourbaki's overwhelming forces.
On the 24th of June 1843, he was present at a
fight between the Tschetschenzes and Cossacks, near
the fortress which the Russians were then erecting
on the banks of the river Kefar. Here a ball, fired
from an ambush of the Tschetschenzes, struck him in
the left upper arm, smashing the bone. This brought
his services in these quarters to an involuntary close.
He luckily escaped amputation, however, and re-
covered his health completely by the beneficial heal-
ing action of the waters of Patigorsk and Teplitz.
The Emperor of Russia bestowed the Order of St.
Wladimir upon him, to which his own king added
that of St. John.
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New German Empire,
In March 1846, Werder was promoted to the
rank of captain, and attached to the general staff of
the army. Soon after, he was attached to the general
stair of the iBt corps. In August 1848, he was
ordered to take his place as captain in the 1st
regiment of infantry.
In March 1851, He gained another step, being
promoted to the rank of major, and appointed to the
command of a hattalion of the 33rd regiment of
infantry. In October 1853, he was called to the
conunand of the Landwehr battalion Grafrath (10th
regiment), whence he was again transferred, in
February 1856, to the 4th battalion of rifles.
In October 1856, he attained the rank of
lieutenant-colonel, and about a year after, he was
appointed to the command of the fusilier battaUon
of the 2nd regiment of foot-guarda.
In May 1858, he was made deputy inspector (with
full performance of the inspectorial functions) of the
rifles and carabineers, and also commander of the
corps of royal field couriers. The year after, he
was promoted to the rank of full colonel, and
appointed inspector of the rifles and carabineers, the
functions of which office he had performed already
since the year before. He was at the same time
named also a member of the directorial board of
the Central Army Institute of Gymnastics at Berlin.
In January 1863, Colonel Werder was appointed to
the command of the 8tb in&ntry brigade, stationed
,.,-ibyGooglc
Men who have made the
at Bromberg. Three months after, he was made
major-general, and in January 1864, transferred to
Berlin as commander of the 4th infantry brigade
(guards).
In May 1865, he was charged with the command
of the 3rd division, stationed at Stettin, and the year
after he was definitely appointed to the command
of this division, the appointment being followed
a few weeks later by his promotion to the rank of
lieutenant-general It had accordingly taken Werder
forty years to reach the same rank which Goben had
attained in twenty-three years, or, if we go back even
to Goben's first connection with the service, in thirty-
two years, a convincing proof of the extraordinary
rapidity of the latter 's promotion in the army, which
I have pointed out in his memoir.
I have given General Werder's promotions and
transfers thus minutely here in' illustration of the
Prussian military system, which sends a promising
officer from regiment to raiment, as it were, and
from one branch of the service to another. That
oflScers thus trained and schooled must necessarily be
superior to others who have not had the same
opportunities afforded them to gather experience and
expertness in every branch of their profession is
self-evident.
It is this excellent system to wliich Prussia may
be said to owe, in a great measure at least, her
present military preponderance. In this admirable
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New German Empire. 209
practical school the conquerors of 1860 and 1870-71
were formed.
In the Prusso-German War of 1866, General
Werder commanded the 3rd infantry division,
which took a prominent share in the victory of
Gitschin, where it forced the corps of the Austrian
General Eingelhcim back upon the line of retreat
of Count Clam-Gallas. At the battle of Konig-
gratz, again, General Werder's Pomeranians gained
great and well-deserved glory by the cool and
steady courage with which they, unshaken and un-
dismayed, withstood a most heavy and destructive
artillery fire. General Werder had the Ordre pour
le M^nte bestowed upon him for his services in
this campaign.
After the conclusion of peace, General Werder
was sent back to Stettin, as commander of the 3rd
infantry division.
At the outbreak of the Franco-German war of
1870, General Werder was specially attached to
the staff of the Crown Prince of Prussia, com-
mander-in-chief of the third German army. In the
battle of Worth he commanded the combined corps
of Wlirtemberg and Baden.
General Beyer, to whom the siege of Strasburg
bad been intrusted, fiilling ill. General Werder was
appointed to succeed him in the command of the
army collected before Strasburg, which consisted of
the Baden division {eighteen battidions of infuiitry,
™»- "• „,?,„,.,Goo8lc
210 Men who have made the
twelve squadrons of cavalry, and ten batteries), the
Prussian Landwehr of the guards division, the first
Prussian Reaerve-Landwehr division (under the com-
mand of General Treskow, who subaequently con-
ducted the siege of Bclfort), the 37th company of
fortress artillery, one battalion of Prussian pioneers,
and one company of Bavarian pioneers, — the whole
numbering above 50,000 effectives.
It would lead us too far here to give the details
of the siege of Strasburg. Suffice it to state that
that fortress capitulated on the 27th of September
1870, after a siege of about six weeks. On the
day of the capitulation of Strasburg, Lieutenant-
General Werder was raised to the rank of general
of infantry.
The forces set free by the capitulation of Stras-
burg were now formed into a separate new corps,
the fourteenth of the German army, which was
placed under the command of General Werder.
To this new corps was joined also the 4th
Prussian reserve division, which had meanwhile
been organized at Freiburg, in the Breisgau.
General Werder had the arduous task assigned
him to complete the conquest of Alsatia, watch
over the safety of the conquered province, and pro-
tect the lines of communication of the great German
army before Paris,
To this latter end it was indispensable to stifle
in the germ, if possible, the organization of fresh
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New German Empire.
French armies, which was just at this critical junc-
ture beginning to assume tangible shape and sub-
stance, and might speedily attain to fonnidable
proportions if not resolutely met at once, and
effectually crushed. The fortresses, the natural
centres of such organization, were therefore neces-
sarily also the first and chief object of Werder's
new campaign,
With a clear and correct appreciation of the actual
circumstances and of the foe opposed to him, General
Werder determined upon a bold offensive.
The grand total of the forces under his command
might reach some 55,000 effectives. But the Land-
wehr of the guards division had to be left in Stras-
burg as a garrison ; iind the 4th reserve division was
required to besiege and reduce the fortresses of
Sehlettstadt and Neu Breisaeh. So it was with a
comparatively very slender force that the general
had to open the campaign.
The first task was to clear the Vosges of the
numerous bands of franc-tireurs who were endea-
vouring to establish themselves in these quarters.
On the Ist of October the brigade Degenfeld, which
formed the vanguard of the 14th corps, moved
forward on its march through the Vo^s, closely
followed by the main body of the corps. The German
troops had to remove enormous abatis and barricades
from their line of march through the passes ; but there
was no fighting.
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212 Men who have made the
The first serious encounter with the French took
place on the western slope of the mountain, between
Kaon L'Etape and St Di^. Six battalions of Baden
infantry, niunbering bai-ely 4,000 men, had a hard
6ght with a portion of General Cambriel's army
(French army of the east), newly formed for the
defence of the Vosges.
The French forces, commanded by General Dupr^,
consisted of some 8,000 regulars of the line and about
the same number of franc-tireurs ; they were amply
provided with artillery. Yet, after seven hours'
desperate fighting. General Dcgenfeld, with his 4,000,
drove them headlong from the field. The French
losses eiceded 2,000 men, of whom 300 were killed,
and 600 made prisoners of war. The Degenfeld
brigade lost about 400 men in killed and wounded.
The discomfited French fled in the greatest disorder
to Besan^on. The blow had so demoralized them, that
Cambriel's corps was in a few brief days reduced,
chiefly through wholesale desertion, from 55,000 to
24,000 men 1
General Werder had originally been instructed by
Moltke to march upon Troyes. However, as Cam-
briel was making desperate efibrts to reorganize his
forces under the shelter of Besanjon and Belfort,
the commander of the 14th corps deemed it the
wiser course first to deal efi'ectively with this enemy
before starting in search of adventures in the interior
of France.
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New German Empire.
Having obtained General Moltke'a aanction to
extend his operations to Besan^on, Werder marclied
upon Vesoul, which was occupied hythe 14th corps
on the 18th of October, the French retreating pre-
cipitately to Belfort and Dijon.
Meaowhilethe French army of the east, re-organized
by Cambriel and considerably increased in numbers,
had taken up a strong position on the river Ognon, or
Oignon (an affluent of the Sadne), at Ruoz and
Etuz.
General Beyer was directed by Werder to dislodge
them and throw them back into Besangon. Beyer
had with him only the Degenfeld brigade, with part
of Keller's brigade, and the brigade of Prince William
of Baden and two battalions of regiment No. 30.
Yet, notwithstanding the very great disproportion of
numbers, he defeated Cambriel, carrying ail his
positions, driving him in disorder across the river,
and finally compelling him to seek shelter once more
behind the strong walls of Beaanfon.
This battle, which was fought on the 22nd of
October, disposed efiectively of the French army of the
cast for the next fortnight to come at least, ui so far
as regarded the possible resumption of the oflFensive by
Cambriel. Moltke's latest instructions had directed
Werder to march over Dijon to Bourges, a most
perilous task even for a much larger force than
Werder had with him then, considering, more par-
ticularly, the dangerous fact that he would have to
,.,-ibyGooglc
Men who have made the
leave in flank and rear the important strongholdB of
Belfort, Besan^on, Ijangres, and Auxonne.
However, the march to Dijon and Bourges had to
be postponed for the time at least, aa a new enemy had
meanwhile made his appearance on the scene. Gari-
baldi, to wit, to whom Gambetta had intrusted the
formation of a new corps, together with the supreme
command over all bauds of franc-tireurs and other free
corps in the Vosges.
The famous Italian chieftain was just then hard at
work at I)61e to put something like organization into
his omnium-gatherum mob oi franc-tireurs de VigalitS,
du Midi, du Douhs, des Vosges, de Nice, de la croix,
&c. ; Compagnies de la revanche, de la demi-lune, des
vengeurs, espagnole, polonaise, grecque, ^yptienne (.'),
franco-espagnole, dc. ; Carahiniers de Genes, Chas-
seurs de Caprera, de Marseille, d'Oran, du Mont
Blanc, de VAtkis, &c.
To provide effectively against any danger that might
threaten from this quarter. General Werder recrossed
the Safine, and took up a suitable position at Gray.
This apparently retrograde movement was hailed by
the French population around as the result of a total
defeat inflicted upon the Germans by the army of the
east. So they arose in insurrection. Numerous
bauds of franc-tireurs and other volunteers were
formed.
As this movement among the people threatened to
become dangerous, tho general resolved to put it
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New German Empire.
down at once with a strong hand. He proclaimed
that he would shoot any man taken with arms in his
hands who should be unable to show that he belonged
to a corps possessed of some degree of organization
and forming part of the French army.
The attempted rising was speedily put down, and
the country aU around disarmed. Only four men,
convicted of having treacherously slain German
soldiers, were shot by the general's ordera
Garibaldi not yet having completed his organiza-
tion, it was not thought prudent at Tours to leave
the great Italian chieftain at D6Ie, where he was
exposed to a crushing attack by Werder. So Gari-
baldi was ordered with his corps to Autun, to
complete his organization there.
Werder was thus left free to resume his advance
upon Dijon. As his scouts had brought him certain
news of the formation of fresh French armies
proceeding rapidly behind the front of the Gari-
baldiacs, and as he found the difficulties of the
transport of his supplies increasing with ievery league
of advance, he resolved to content himself for the
time being with the capture and occupation of
Dijon, and the holding of a strong position at
VesouL
On the 27th of October, Prince William of Baden's
brigade came upon the newly-formed ArmSe de la
Cdte d'Or. This corps, which was commanded by
Lavalle, president of the Dijon committee of defence,
.ogle
Men who have made the
barely awaited the attack of the German vanguard,
but retreated at once precipitately to Dijon.
The total effective force of General Werder'a ex-
peditionary corps amounted at this time to tweoty-
three battalions of infantry, twenty squadrons of
cavalry, and seventy-two pieces of artillery.
It had before it the Annie de la C6te d'Or;
to the south the fortress of Auxonne ; at Besan-
jon the army of the east, under Cambriel, some
30,000 strong; on the right flank the fortress of
Langres, with a garrison of 6,000 ; in the rear,
Belfort, with a garrison of 10,000. Adding the
Garibaldians and the numerous bands of franc-tireurs,
&c., to these, there were certainly French forces
enough to crush the small Gennao corps among
them.
On the 30th of October 1870, General Beyer and
Prince William of Baden assailed Dijon.
The French had brought up 10,000 men by rail,
and the citizens, even the women, joined most
energetically in the defence. The resistance was
obstinate in the extreme, and the Germans suffered
heavy losses. But Prince WUIiam of Baden carried
the heights of St. ApoUinari in gallant style, and
occupied the suburbs, from which the Germans
ultimately forced their way into the city, where
fierce fights from barricade to barricade, from house
to house, lasted till midnight.
On the morning of the 31at of October, the ancient
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New German Empire.
capital of Burgundy waa formally surrendered by the
mayor. The Io8S of Dijon waa a heavy blow and
sad discouragement to the French.
The possession of Belfort being deemed indispen-
sable to the safety of Alsatia, the Ist reserve division
under command of General Treskow, was detached
to lay siege to this most important fortress.
General Schmeling, who commanded the 4th reserve
division, had meanwhile paid a visit to Miihlhausen,
and after an unsuccessful attempt to carry the
fortress of Neu Breisach by what might be termed a
coup de homhardement, occupied Colmar, after which
he laid siege to Schlettstadt, a most important
point on the railway line from Strasburg to Bale,
which commands moreover the road to Lun^ville
and Nancy.
Schlettstadt surrendered on the 24th of October,
two days after Werder's victory on the Ognon.
After the capture of Schlettstadt, Schmeling re-
sumed the siege of Neu Breisach with the greatest
vigour, and compelled this fortress also to capitulate
(10th of November). Fort Mortier had surrendered
three days before. Pfalzburg and Bitsch were thus
the only two strong places in Alsatia still remaining
in the hands of the French.
The fall of Metz having set free Prince Frederick
Charles's large army, which was at once pushed on by
forced marches towards the Loire, there was no longer
need now of Werder's advance into the interior of
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Men who have made the
France, and the general could fireely make his dis-
positions to encounter the many enemies who sur-
rounded him.
Werder resolved upon a vigorous offensive in all
directions. He had only about 22,000 men to
oppose to some 70,000 foes.
The French, however, thinking the general had
received lai^e reinforcements &om the army of Metz,
gave way at once on all sides.
On the 14th of November 1870, Werder concen-
trated his small force about Dijon, ordering the 4th
reserve division under Sclimeling up to Vesoul.
Giuibaldi had meanwhile completed the organiza-
tion of his corps, and had again advanced from
Autun to the C6te d'Or. He meditated a coup de
main upon Dijon.
Werder, who was admirably served by hia scouts,
knew that a large French force was being concen-
trated about Lyons ; he also knew that the army
of the east, now under command of General Michel,
who had replaced Cambriel, was about to resume the
offensive. He knew also all about Garibaldi's in-
tended surprise of Dijon, and he took his precautions
accordingly. The mayor of Dijon was duly warned
that the first attempt at a rising would inevitably
lead to the total destruction of the ancient city, and
the warning had its due effect.
On the 26th of November, early in the morning.
General Dcgcufeld, out upon a i-ocounoitritig expe-
New German Empire. 219
dition, discovered that Menotti Garibaldi was ad-
vancing with a numerous body of Garibaldians from
the direction of Pasques.
Just as night was setting in, the outposts of the
fusilier battalion of the 3rd regiment were vehemently
attacked. They fell back upon the main body
of their own battalion, and the battalion Unger.
These steady soldiers let the assailants come up
to within fifty yards, when they suddenly opened
upon them a terribly close and fast fire, which drove
the Garibaldians back in disorder.
Three times the same manceuvre was repeated ;
after the third repidse the Garibaldians took to flight
in a complete panic, wildly throwing away their arms
and baggage.
Next day. General Wei-der, at the head of three
brigades, assumed the oflFensive. He came up near
Fasques with a rear-guard that turned out to be a
portion of the French army of the Loire. The Gari-
baldians had fled back to Autun, General Keller,
sent forward in pursuit of the enemy, found a fi-esh
French corps posted in a strong position at Nuibs,
south of Dijon. This corps, then some 12,000
strong, was commanded by General Cremer, late
captain of the staff in M'Mahon's army. This
officer was one of the prisoners of Sedan who had
disgracefully broken his plighted parole, and had been
raised by Gambetta per saltvm to the rank of general
uf division,
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220 Men who have made the
Cremer, though he had broken his parole, was yet
an excellent officer. He endeavoured, with great skill
and pertinacious bravery, to intercept the return of
Keller's corps to Dijon ; but the men of Baden
proved more than a match for the utmost efforts of
the French, and Keller brilliantly effected his junction
with Werder at Dijon, where the 14th corps was now
once more concentrated.
From here Werder despatched General von der
Goltz with a small corps to lay siege to the fortress
of Langres. This officer came upon the French,
strongly posted at Longeau, on the 16th of De-
cember. He at once attacked them, and, after three
hours' hard fighting, drove them back into Langres,
to which he then laid siege.
General Werder's force at Dijon was now reduced
to 16,000 effectives; against whom more than 50,000
French, with a large artillery force, were advancing
from the south and the C6te d'Or.
The most immediately dangerous foe was Cremer,
who had meanwhile raised his force to above 20,000
men, and was holding a naturally very strong posi-
tion at Nuits and Pesmes, which he had skilfully
strengthened still more by field-works.
Werder resolved to dislodge him from this position.
The lead of this expedition was intrusted to General
GlUraer. Werder could only spare him 11,000 men,
as he was compelled to retain a firm hold upon
Dijon.
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New Gasman Empire. 221
On the 18th of December, General Gliimer attacked
the French, who outnumbered his email force in the
proportion of two to one at least Cremer defended
his position most valiantly, and with no mean skill.
The battle lasted six hours, and it was only at night
that Nuita was finally carried by the Germans, who
made some 600 prisoners.
Cremer retreated upon Ch41on8-sur-Sa6ne, pursued
by the victorious Germans. The French acknow-
ledged a loss of 2,200 men. Cremer's corps was so
shaken by this blow that it took a long time to make
it fit again for offensive operations. The Germans
also had suffered heavy losses — amounting to close
upon 1,100 killed and wounded, including many high
oflBcers. Prince William of Baden also was severely
wounded in this battle of Nuits.
It was about this time that Gambetta conceived
his truly brilliant and most threateniug plan of an
invasion of South Germany, which, had it been suc-
cessful, must not alone have brought unspeakable
miseries upon the invaded land, but might have
turaed out a most formidable diversion, and would
have protracted the war for many months.
Long ere it was known at head -quarters that
General Bourbaki had commenced his threateuing
movement, General Werder received authentic in-
formation from the German envoy at Perne, Baron
von Eoder, that the French were concentrating their
new army of the east, consisting of the 15th, 18th,
Google
222 Men who have made the
20th, and 24th corps, between D6Ie and Besan9on,
and that it was clearly their intention to relieve
Belfort, and cut the lines of communication of the
German armies. When General Werder received the
alarming news of the imminent approach of Bourbaki
with some 160,000 men, he was not quite sure
whether it might not be the French commander's
intention to march upon Nancy, to break the German
line of communication there ; or whether he really
purposed to endeavour to raise the siege of Belfort,
and make his way into Alsatia and thence into t^e
southern part of Germany.
But he fully saw and realized at once the im-
mensity of the danger threatening the cause of
Germany (^rom that quarter, no matter which of
the two, Nancy or Belfort, might form the proximate
object of Bourbaki's intended operations.
With prompt decision he determined to abandon
Dijon immediately. He ordered General von der
Goltz to raise the siege of Langres, and rejoin him with
his corps. On the 27th of December, the Germans
left Dijon, and made their way by forced marches to
Vesoul,
The 4th reserve division, set free by the capitu-
lation of Schlettstadt and Neu Breiaach, was ordered
up to VUlcrsexel, some eighteen English miles to the
west of Belfort.
In this well-chosen flank position at Vesoul and
VUlersexel, which was adrainibly adapted to meet
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New German Empire. 223
all eventualities, Werder resolved to watch the course
of events.
General Treskow, in command of -the Ist reserve
division, had laid siege to Belfort on the 3rd of
November. Exactly one month after the German
batteries had opened their fire upon the place.
To cover the operation of the siege in the west,
General Debschitz had been ordered up with eight
battalions of Landwehr.
From the 3rd to the 8th of January, 1871, tlie
Germans were victorious in a series of small recon-
noitring fights at Vellcfaux, Villersec, L^vrecy, and
Velle le Ch4tel, from which Werder gained the
certainty that the immense army of the east (some
160,000 men) was moving to the right upon Belfort.
It was of the utmost importance that he should
arrive there before them. He had already con-
templated an eventuality of this nature, and had
partly provided against it, by selecting an excellent
position on the Lisaine or Luxienne, which was well
adapted to cover the siege of Belfort.
On the 7th of January 1871, Werder resolved to
attack the enemy's left wing. The French de-
clined the combat, which fully confirmed Werder's
opinion that they were moving to the right upon
Belfort.
So on the 9th of January, he fell upon Bourbaki's
left flank with fierce impetuosity. On the German
side the Baden division was chiefly engaged, on
logic
Men who have wade the
the French side the 18th and 20th corps. Bourbaki
commanded in person.
The possession of Villersexel was the chief object
of the fight.
Villersexel is a small place in the arrondissement
Lure, Haute-Sa6ne. It lies at the confluence of
the rivers Ognon and Scey, on the road from Vesoul
to H^ricourt and Montbdiiard.
The German attack was made with extraordinary-
vigour. Villersexel was carried by storm, Moimay
and Marat sharing the same fate. This latter place
was taken in the evening. All attacks made by the
French, who brought more and more considerable
forces into the field, were victoriously repulsed.
The whole French army was brought to a stand-
still. Bourbaki was thorouglily convinced that the
German attack would be renewed in the morning
of the 10th, and made his dispositions aecorfUngly.
His conviction that a renewal of the battle was
intended for next day vas strengthened by the
entire apparent bearing of Werder, who actually
had a bridge thrown over the Ognon, in Bourbaki's
right flank.
Werder, however, having thus craftily misled his
antagonist, marched quietly ofl" in the night of
the 9th-10th of January, the general with his
staffs hastening on in advance to the position marked
out from Delle to Lure, to make his final prepara-
tions for the impending titanic struggle.
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Hew ijerman Empire.
A forced march, rendered peculiarly difl&cult by
the deep snowdrifts and the slippery state of the
roads, brought the whole of the troops to the
intended position on the Uth of January.
On the morning of the lOtb of January Bourbaki
had found, to his intense amazement and grief, that
the Germans were clean gone.
The battle of Villersexel had inflicted severe losses
upon the French. Besides many killed and wounded,
they lost also two guns, two eagles, and some 800
unwouuded prisoners, with two superior officers and
fourteen subalterns,
The whole of Werder's forces, with every man
counted whom Treskow could possibly spare .from
the siege of Belfort, amounted to forty-eight weak
battalions, with whom the general had to hold a
moat extended position. The force of the assailants
was fourfold stronger. The defence had to be made,
moreover, with a strong well-garrisoned hostile for-
tress in the rear, and under the threatening danger
of a sortie en masse from that fortress, which would
place the German defenders of the extended line
from Lure to Delle between two fires.
General Werder was not a whit dismayed, how-
ever. His old Caucasian experience of the defence
of extended mountain positions stood him in ex-
cellent stead now. He knew he could fully rely
upon General Treskow, to whom he left the difficult
task of watching and engaging the Belfort garrison,
VOT, TT. '5 ^ ,
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Men who have made the
and warding off any danger that might threaten
from that quarter.
The position chosen covered not alone the siege of
Belfort, but also Alsatia and southern Germany.
The Lisaine, or Luxienne, a brook some three to
four feet deep, flanked on both banks by marshy
meadows, constituted the principal line of defence,
extending some eight English miles in length. The
left flank rested on the AUaine and the Rhine and
Rhone canal, which runs parallel with it. The left
wing found a most valuable point of support in
the old castle of Montb^liard, which Werder had
mounted with heavy artillery, garrisoned by an ade-
quate force, and amply stored with provisiooH and
ammunition for twenty-one days.
General Werder established his head-quarters at
Br^villiers, near H^ricourt, which formed the centre
and key of the position.
H^ricourt lies in the valley of the Luxienne,
which is commanded, in the direction of Belfort as
well as in that of Arcey, by thickly-wooded moun-
tains, and through which runs the high road from
Besanjon to Belfort.
To guard gainst all chances of being outflanked,
the German line of defence had to be extended from
Frahier over Echevanne, Chenebier, and Chagey to
Lure; thence to H^ricourt, the key of the posi-
tion ; from H^ricourt southward, over Bussarel and
Bethoncourt, to Montb^liard, and from Montb^liard
L.,n.,dbyG00glc
New German Empire.
finally eastward to Delle, or Dattenried, on the
Swiss frontier.
General Treakow had sent up thirty-six heavy
position guns, which were judiciously placed on
Mont les Baragues, at ChaloosviUars, and other
important points. Other parts of the line were held
by battalions of infantry, with field-batteries placed
at proper intervals between them. All villages and
places along the line were thoroughly got ready for
the most obstinate defence, riile-pits being dug,
and barricades and abatis placed at all suitable
points.
By noon of the 13th of January all preparations
were fully completed. Whilst the front of the
position was defended by the Baden division, the
4th reserve division, and part of the Ist reserve
division, eight battalions of Landwehr, under com-
mand of General Debschitz, covered the.ground south
of the AUaine up to the Swiss frontier. Three regi-
ments of cavalry, under Colonel Williaen, were
pushed forward in front of the right wing, to harass
the left flank of the advancing enemy.
To General von Schmeling, the conqueror of
Schlettstndt and Neu Breisach, was intrusted the
command of the centre at H^ricourt ; Gfeneral von
Debschitz commanded on the left wing, General
von der Goltz on the right, where General von
Degenfeld was placed with the Baden division.
Generals GlUmer and Keller led the reserves.
jJz.dbyGoogle
Men who have made the
General Werder himself took up his positiou
in the centre of the line of defence, near Les
Barques, where he could keep up constant com-
munication with the field-telegraph at Br^villiera
through cavalry relays.
The prelude to the ball was opened on the morn-
ing of the 13th of January, when the small German
vanguard, which had been stationed on the other
bank of the Lisaine, was attacked by overwhelming
numbers, and compelled to &11 back across the
brook.
On the morning of the 14th of January the
Germans stood in their position, fully prepared and
ready to receive the French onset.
A simple change in the weather had meanwhile,
in the course of the preceding night, very conader-
ably altered the aspect of affairs, and chi^ged the
prospects of the German defence very much for the
worse.
The thennometer had suddenly dropped to zero
on Fahrenheit's scale, which means 14 to 15 degrees
cold on Reaumur's scale. . The Lisaine and the
swampy meadows along its banks, which had the
day before constituted the chief bulwark of the
defence, were now solidly frozen over, opposing thus
no further obstacle to the advance of the French.
General Werder correctly estimated the full import
of the change. He did not conceal from himself the
danger which he might incur of the destruction of
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New German Empire,
his corps, or, at least, the loss of his artillery, if he
accepted the fight in this position against an enemy
four times his own numerical strength under the
now so vastly altered circumstances of the ease.
His mind, indeed, was not shaken in the least.
He was not dismayed by the extreme danger of his
position. He remained foUy resolved to fight to
the last man and the last bullet for the safety of
South Germany. But he wished not to incur the
sole, undivided responsibility of the event ; so he
telegraphed to head-quarters for instructions. The
answer, which fully accorded with his own resolu-
tion, reached him only on the evening of the 15th
of January, when the first fierce onslaught of the
French masses had been triumphantly repulsed.
The struggle began on the 15th of January, 1871.
Bourbaki directed the 20th corps coming up from
Villersexel against the right wing of the Germans,
the 18th corps, with the 24th corps in reserve, against
the centre at H^ricourt, and the 15th corps against
the left wing. Numerous field-batteries and several
batteries of mitrailleuses were brought to the French
front.
The French attack was made with the utmost
vigoiir. The artillery played the principal part in
it. The battle raged for nine hours — from 8.30 A.M,
to 5.30 P.M. Of course, with the overwhelming
superiority of numbers on the side of the French,
there could be no question of offensive operations
Google
Men who have made the
on the part of the Germans, who had, on the con-
trary, to strain every nerve to hold their extended
line of defence, and more especially H^ricourt, the
key of the position, the fall of which would certainly
have led to the most disastrous consequences for
them.
After a hard struggle the French succeeded in
gaining possession of Champey and some others
of the less important points. They also succeeded
in establishing field batteries at Byan and Tavez,
and ou the wooded heights around, which up to four
in the afternoon hailed down an incessant storm of
projectiles upon the ground in front of them, the
French infantry trying meanwhile their utmost
to break through the German positions, but without
success. The destructive fire of the German batteries,
and the cool, steady bravery of the German infantry,
which was brought up incessantly and indefatigably
to every point seriously threatened by the enemy,
proved too much for the French. They could not
even gain an additional foot of ground. Their last
attempt was made upon Chagey. It failed like the
rest When night put an end to the struggle, the
position of the two armies remained still nearly the
same as it had been in the morning.
The Germans had to bivouac on the battle-field,
without fire, the whole of the bitterly cold night of
the I5th-16th of January, when the thermometer
fell to sixteen degrees cold on K^aumur'a scale.
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New German Empire.
At break of day the Germana were ready again
in their old positions. A thick fog covered the valley
of the Lisaine, which cleared up only at noon suf-
ficiently to permit the artillery to join in the
Bat despite the fog, the small-arms fire began at
7.30 A.M. The French tried hard to break through
the German positions in the centre and on the left
wing. They made most desperate efforts to seize
the old Castle of Montb^liard.
At five o'clock in the afternoon the battle was
suspended, but at eight o'clock it was renewed once
more with the utmost fierceness, more especially on
the left wing, where the French tried to carry by
nocturnal surprise the positions &om which they
had been repulsed in the day. Here the fight lasted
till two o'clock in the morning of the 17th.
All assaults of the French upon the centre and
the left wing had been gallantly repulsed.
On the right wing, however, the assailants had
been partially successful. Here the 18th French
corps and Cremer's two divisions had thrown
themselves upon General Degenfeld's three bat-
talions and three batteries, and had, after ten
hours' fierce fighting, succeeded at last in com-
pelling Degenfeld to leave Chenebier and Frahier
in their hands, and retreat to a strong position in
the rear, which had been provided and prepared
for Buch a contingency.
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Men who have made the
"VVerder, who fully understood the disastrous con-
sequences that must result from further successes
of the enemy on the right wing, and who had no
more reserves to bring up, ordered General Keller
to recapture the lost positions without delay by
Doctumal surprise. The general's attack proved
eminently successful. Frahier was carried by storm,
and Chenebier by surprise. In the latter village
seven French officers and 400 men were made
prisoners.
General Treskow sent also three twenty-four
pounder position pieces from Belfort to strengthen
the defences on the right wing. These heavy pieces
had to be dragged up all the way by men.
On the morning of the 17th of January, at about
eight o'clock, the French made repeated attacks upon
Chagey, which were repulsed. A vehement assault
upon Bethoncomt, 8Jid several fierce attacks upon
Montbdliard, shared the same fate.
About noon the French offensive began to slacken
perceptibly. Columns of the enemy were seen to
march ofif in a westerly direction. Rifle-pits were
being dug at many points, and other defensive
measures adopted by the French.
At four o'clock in the afternoon the French
essayed a last overwhelming attack upon the positions
occupied by General Keller. Tliey succeeded in
retaking Chenebier, but failed in their most desperate
aaaaulta upon Frahier.
Digilized by Google
New German Empire. 233
Soon after a general advance of the German forces
over Chagey and Echevanne ended in the final repulse
of the French along the whole line.
Bourbaki, thus foiled in his modt desperate efibrta
to break through the German line of defence thrown
between him and Belfort, saw at last that there
was naught left him now but to secure a safe
retreat.
The fortress of Belfort had remained all the whUe
perfectly quiescent, though the garrison must have
heard the incessant thunder of artillery.
On the morning of the 18th of January it was
found that the great French host had marched off.
General Werder immediately ordered the movements
of the retreating enemy to be vigilantly followed.
A pursuit en masse was altogether out of the
question. The German troops required a few days'
rest at least afcer their almost superhuman exertions.
It was only on the 20th of January that the Baden
'division could start in pursuit, executing a general
evolution to the left, in order to compel the French
to fall ■ back in the direction of the Doubs.
The French had suffered very heavy losses in this
three days' desperate struggle. Their casualties in
kUIed and wounded amounted to some 7,000 men,
besides which they lost 2,000 prisoners. Two French
eagles and one standard were also taken.
The German losses amounted altogether to some
60 ofBcers and 2,200 men killed and wounded.
i.dbyGoogle
Men who have, made the
The ulterior operations of Werder and his corps
were executed in conjunction with the army of the
south under ManteufFel, of which the 14th corps
formed part since the 9th of January.
Werder had saved South Germany from the un-
speakable horrors of a French invasion. Manteuffel
completed subsequently what Werder had so well
begun. Manteufiel's part of the task was com-
paratively easy, as Bourbaki's ■ defeat before Werder's
line of defence had well-nigh thoroughly demoralized
the huge French force commanded by that general.
The Emperor William — the new German empire
had been proclaimed at Versailles on the 18th of
January, the day after Bourbaki's last desperate
attempt to break through Werder's position — appre-
ciated at its just value the immense service rendered
to Germany by General Werder through his stubborn
and heroic defence.
He tendered his warm thanks to the general in a
special letter written with his own hand. He aenC
htm also the oak-leaves to wear with the Ordre pour
le Merite, and the Grand Crosa of the Red Eagle,
with swords ; and on the 22nd of March he
bestowed upon him, as a crowning distinction, the
Grand Cross of the Iron Cross, which Werder shares
with only six other leaders of the German army,
viz., the Crown Prince of Germany, Prince Frederick
Charles, King Albert of Saxony, Field-Marshals
Moltke and ManteufTel, and General Goben.
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New German Em/yire.
Altogether General Werder is grand croes of ei^t
of the principal order&
After the conclusion of peace General Werder was
definitively appointed to the command-in-chief of the
14th corps of the German army, which consists
chiefly of the Baden contingent. The head-quarters
are at Carhoiihe.
General Werder is also chief of the 4th Rhenan
infantry regiment. No. 30.
The German people, more especially those of the
south of Germany, have worthily manifested their
deep sense of gratitude to the general.
Many cities have proudly enrolled him among
their honorary citizens. The University of Freihui|;
has bestowed upon him the honorary degree of doctor
of laws. Swords of honour, silver helmets, sUver
shields, silver cups, magnificent editions of the Bible,
consignments of rare wines, and other precious gifts
have literally rained in upon him.
The sculptor, Moest, of Carlsruhe, is at present
engaged upon a memorial monument, which is
shortly to be erected at Freiburg in honour of
General Werder and his brave troops.
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GENERAL VON DER TANN.
The Bavarian troops played a prominent part, and
had a very considerable share, in some of the hardest-
fought fights and the moat dearly-bought successes
of the ever- memorable Franco-German war of
1870-71. The two commanders of the Bavarian
contingent, Generals von der Tann and Hartmann,
are therefore justly entitled to figiu^ in the glorious
list of the great war-chiefs who have contributed so
largely to the creation of the new German empire.
Baron Ludwig Samson von der Tann-Kathsam-
hauscn is descended fixim one of the principal branches
of an ancient baronial family, widely spread through
Francony and Hesse.
He was born on the 18th of June, 1815, on the
day of the great battle of Waterloo, which finally
put to rest all apprehensions of the possible resump-
tion of the detested French sway over the fair land
of Germany.
His father, Baron Heinrich von und zu der Tann,
who died in 1848, was chamberlain to King Louis I.
:,Gooylc
New German Empire. 237
of Bavaria, a lieutenant-colonel in the Bavarian army,
and one of the chief district inspectors of the national
militia. He enjoyed the intimate friendship of the
king, who appointed young Louis one of his own
pages when almost in his cradle, and had the boy
educated with the greatest care at the Pages' Institute.
Young Louis, however, declined to enter the
brilliant court career so temptingly opening before
him. His mind waa set upon sterner and more
arduous pursuits. He was resolved to be a soldier,
and with characteristic firmness carried his point
against the wish of his father and the will of the
king.
He was barely eighteen when he obtained a com-
mission as second lieutenant in the Bavarian artillery.
Unlike most young oEBcers of noble birth who were
serving at that time in the South German armies,
more for the allurement of the glittering outer
trappings and the charm of an idle, indolent life of
pleasure than for love of the service, the young
artillery lieutenant took his pursuit au grand
s&rieux, and threw himself into the study of all
branches of the profession of his choice with all the
ardour of his temperament and all the assiduous
steadfastness of his disposition.
He soon gained the reputation of a singularly
well-informed oflScer ; and in 1840 he was, despite his
youth, and although he had only attained the rank of
first lieutenant, appointed to an important position on
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Men who have made the
the general staff of the army. His promotaon to the
rank of captain followed soon after.
In 1844, the king, who by this time had got over
his disappointment about the slighted pageship, and
who remained to the laat day of his life Tann's well-
afiected patron, made the bnlliant young staff officer
adjutant to the Crown Prince Maximilian.
This position, in which he was after a time promoted
to the rank of major, he held four years, up to 1848,
when the German rising in Schleswig-Holstein
impelled him irresistibly to devote his sword and his
talents to the patriotic cause of the Elbe duchies. He
obtained King Maximilian's permission (King Louis
having abdicated in March, 1848), and the sanction
of the Ministry of War, to take the command of a
German free corps in the duchies, where he gained
some brilliant successes over the Danes, more
especifdly in the great surprise of Hoptrupp, on the
7th of June, 1848. The government of Schleswig-
Holstein bestowed his name upon one of their new
gunboats in graceful acknowledgment of his important
services in the war.
In 1849 he acted as chief of the staff to Prince
Ernest of Saie-Altenburg, who commanded one of the
divisions of the Schleswig-Holstein forces. In 1850
he was made colonel and chief of the staff of the
army under Geueral Willisen.
After the sad collapse of the German cause in the
duchies, Colonel Tann returned to Bavaria, resuming
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New German Empire.
his old position as aide-de-camp to King Maximilian,
with whom he continued as great a favourite aa he
had been with King Louis.
He was soon promoted to the rank of major-
general, and in 1860 he was made lieutenant-general,
and had the command of a division bestowed upon
him. His promotion had been exceptionally rapid :
it had only taken him twenty-seven years to reach
the high grade of divisional commander, whereas it
took his friend and fellow-commander Hartmann more
than fifty years to achieve the same position ; but
then Hartmann, who certainly was in nearly every
way as brilliant an officer and as excellent a soldier as
Tann, was not so much of a special royal favourite
as the latter had the good fortune to be.
Kin g Maximilian, one of the best and most en-
lightened rulers of the small kingdom of Bavaria,
died on the 10th of March, 1864, at the early age
of fifty-diree. He died, unhappily, at a roost critical
jimcture — ^just when the temporary forced league
between Austria and Prussia for the conquest of the
Elbe duchies was laying the germ for the fierce
war almost sure to follow between these two most
unnatural allies. Had King Maximilian lived, the
chances of the possible avoidance of the great in-
testine contest in Germany, which broke out subse-
quently in 1866, would certainly have been much
more promising than they turned out to be after.
King Maximilian would surely have given Von der
L.i.n.KibyGoogle
240 Men who have made the
Pfordten very different irtstructioos from those given
to the Bavarian ambassador to the German Confedera-
tion by his son and successor, Louia, who was really
too young and inexperienced at the time to fully
realize the actual position of affairs, and to under-
stand the true interests of South Germany, and who
was surrounded and ear-wigged by a most uncom-
promising Ultramontaniat, anti-Prussian clique.
Baron von der Pfordten finding himself abso-
lutely unrestricted by pacific or cautious iDstructionB
from his king and court, joiaed with Beust, Vam-
biiler, Dalwigk, and the Hanoverian Platen in the
nefarious and ill-considered plot to humble Prussia.
The participation of Soutb Germany in the war of
1&66 was the natural consequence of this most
absurd policy.
General von der Tann, a man of the wannest
German feelings, bitterly deplored the share which
his beloved country was going to take in this
fratricidal war. The Ultramontanist scribblers and
gabblers prated insanely of the formidable military
force which the South German states, jointly with
Saxony and Hanover, could put into the field — exceed-
ing half a million of effectives, it was asserted by
those ignorant twaddlers and their aiders and abettors
in the British press of that day. Tann knew better.
He knew that the boasted South German host
was a huge myth and gross deception, and that
150,000 men was the highest figure the South
D,a,i,z.:ibyGoogle
yeuj German Empire. 241
German states could possibly put into the field.
He also knew that, although the soldiering material
might do well enough, the command was safe to be
placed in Eiuch incompetent and incapable hands, that
there would be but little chance of success against
the Prussians under the leadership of the smartest
and most efficient commanders of the age.
He clearly foresaw the whole disastrous issue and-
result of the affair, and he consented only most
reluctantly to take upon his shoulders the h^hly
responsible office and duties of chief of the staff to
Field-Marshal Prince Charles of Bavaria, to whom
the supreme command over the Bavarian army and
the whole of the South German forces, including
an Austrian division under Neipperg, had been
intrasted, with the stupid Austrian proviso that
the commander-in-chief should always act in accord-
ance with the instructions that were to come to
him &om the Austrian head-quarters and from the
Emperor Francis Joseph's military cabinet — a pro-
viso which could not but helplessly lame the initia-
tive of the commander of the South German forces
and his chief of the staff.
The command of the 8th corps of the German
Confederation army, consisting of the contingents
of Baden, WUrtembei^, Hesse, electoral and grand-
ducal, Nassau, and Frankfort, were given by King
ChfU'les of Wtirtemberg, with whom the appointment
lay, to another incapable — Prince Alexander of Hesse,
VOL. n. • R,..„,Googk'
24:j Men who have made the
to wit, who was said to have distinguished himself
greatly at Solferinol
TaDD knew beforehand how little chance there
was of the Bavarian commaiider-in-chief and bis
Heasian coadjutor pulling well together, and that
there was still less Hkebhood of concerted action of
the mixed host in obedience to his own directions
and iniitractions. He felt convinced, also, that the
fault and blame of the disastrous failure which he
foresaw would be laid at his door ; so no wonder that
he went into the struggle half-hearted, and with the
saddest forebodings, destined to be soon realized 6ven
beyond the extent of his direst apprehensions.
The first great trouble he had to deal with was the
Hanoverian army. The neat UtUe plot hatched be-
tween Gablentz, the Auguetenburg pretender, and the
King of Hanover, to march with united forces upon
Berlin, had been nipped in the bud by Manteufiel's
rapid and energetic proceedings. The Hanoverian
forces, cut off from Stade, where vast stores and
supplies had been collected for their use, were
marched into the province of Gottingen, with a
view to their hanty organization for war.
This Hanoverian army was as fine a body of
men as were ever marched into the field. Had
they been boldly pushed forward through the
Thuringian forest from Eisenach, where they had
taken up their station on the 21st of June, they
might safely have joined the Bavarian forces, which
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New German Empire.
were coming up to the Saxon duchies to meet
them. But this troop of lions was led by blind
King George and hia equally blind military advisers.
The king had the conceited notion that he could
outwit Bismarck in diplomatic negotiations. He
rejected Prussia's very fair offers of an understand-
ing with him, yet he kept on treating with the
Prussians, in the foolish expectation that the whole
of the Bavarian army would come bodUy up to
him, to drive the Prussians out of the land ; and
whilst thus idly negotiating, he led his splendid
army in purposeless marches from Eifleoach to
Langensalza, back again to Eisenach, then once more
to Langensalza. Meuiwhile, the active Prussians were
rapidly bringing up troops from Berlin, Erfurt, and
Torgau, until nearly every loop-hole of escape,
through which the Hanoverians might have forced
their way to the Bavarian army, was efiectually
shot up.
On the 27th of June, when time and opportunity
might fairly be considered all but gone, the king
and his advisers resolved at last to make an efibrt
to go to the Bavarians, as it was quite clear the
Bavarians were not coming to them. But General
Flies, with only 9,000 men under his command,
boldly attacked the Hanoverians, who outnumbered
his troops in the proportion of two to one at least ;
and, although he was defeated by numbers, and
by the brilliant valour of the Hanoverians, more
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Men wlio have made the
eqwcially their truly splendid cavalry, he succeeded
in retaiuiDg the Hanoverian forces at Laogensalza,
whilst Vogel TOD Falckenstein was closing the
net around them. On the day after, the 28th of
June, the army of King George, surrounded on all
udes, capitulated to the Prussian general.
Among the many false and foolish charges which
were subsequently insinuated i^ainst General von
der Tann, figured, of course, also this, that he had
wilfully and corruptly abandoned the Hanoverians to
their fate I The general would have deserved to be
ignominiously dismissed the service had he advised
his commander to march his troops into Hanover.
The blame of the failure of the projected junction
of the Bavarians and Hanoverians must be laid
entirely at the door of King George and his generals,
who spoiled everything by their gross incapacity
and helpless irresolution.
Having thus satisfactorily disposed of his Hano-
verian opponents, Vogel von Falckenstein prepared
at ODce for a most vigorous offensive against the
numerically much more formidable hostile hosts of
the South German states. He had only three divi-
sions under his command, to wit, the divisions of
Manteiiffel, Gobeo, and Beyer, the whole of his
available forces not exceeding 50,000 effectives.
The Bavarian army, under the command of Prince
Charles of Bavaria, might number some 60,000
effectives. On paper the figure reached 80,000.
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New Geiinan Empire.
The 8th corps, under Prince Alexander of Hesse,
numbered between 60,000 and 70,000_ effectives.
Either host was accordingly much stronger than
the entire force of the so-called Prussian army of
the Main, whilst the two bodies combined seemed
sufficiently powerful to easily crush the Prussians
between them.
But the great Prussian commandw, after concen-
trating his forces at Eisenach on the Ist of July,
pushed them like a wedge between the two South
German armies. The 8th corps under Prinee Alex-
ander of Hesse was holding a positicm at the time
to the north of Frankfort-on-the-Main, whilst the
Bavarians under Prince Charles occupied the valley
of the Fulda, with two divisions pushed forwaid to
Dermbaeh. A strong body of Bavarian cavalry
was ordered to seek to establish a junction with
the 8th corps.
This plan, devised by General von der Tann,
seemed clearly indicated by the actual position of
affairs, and might have placed the Prussians in an
awkward strait, had only the execution even re-
motely equalled the conception. But, unluckily for
the chief of the staff, the event turned out far
otherwise. Indeed, it may fairly be said that,
throughout this campaign, so disastrous to the South
German armies, the glaring incapacity and the gross
blundering of the tactical leaders in the field thwarted,
nearly every one of Tann's strategic conceptions.
Google
Afen who have made the
It was on the 4tb of July that the vanguard
of Beyer's diTision, advancing along the high road
to Geysa, came into collision with^the strong body
of Bavarian cavalry ordered to seek to establish
a junction with the 8th corps. When this body
of cavalry found itself suddcDly and unexpectedly
assailed by a heavy artillery fire, it was thrown into
disorder and retreated precipitately, leaving the
Prussians free to rush on between the two corps.
At the same time General Goben had received
orders to advance beyond Dermbaeh and drive back
any hostile forces he should come across there ; after
which he was to break off the fight and return to
Dermbaeh, that he might afterwards prepare for the
further advance of the army by taking his station
en ichelons at Geysa. Goben executed the order most
brilliantly ; he took Wiesenthal, Zella, and Neidharts-
hausen, and finally also the strong position which the
Bavarians held on the Nebelberg.
Having accomplished his object, he fell back upon
Dermbaeh in obedience to the orders of his commander-
in-chief. This the poor Bavarians mistook for a
" retreat," and indulged in somewhat overloud songs
of triumph accordingly. They soon discovered their
mistake, however, and hastened to move back south-
ward, with a view to find some other way to join
the 8th corps, which on its part drew nearer to
Frankfort.
The advancing Prussians found Fidda abandoned.
New Qermcm Empire. 247
The Bavarian anny had taken up a strong positiou
along ike Franconian Sale river, behind the Rhon
Mountains. This position also had been very well
selected by General Tann, as it enabled the Bavarians
to threaten the left flank of the Prussians, But on
the 9th of July, Vogel von Falekenstein, moving
suddenly to the left, crossed into Bavaria, and on
the 10th of July, General Goben took Kissingen
and the heights behind by storm, and kept his
conquest against the repeated desperate efforts of
the Bavarian reserves, whilst Beyer had a successful
engagement at Hammelburg, and Manteuffel, who
bad followed, defeated the Bavarian troops opposed
to him at Waldaschach and Hansen. In the fierce
flght at Kissingen, General Tann was slightly
wounded.
Prince Charles now retreated to Sebweinfurt, when
Vogel von Falekenstein quite unexpectedly marched
upon Aschafienburg. Prince Alexander of Hesse,
at last thoroughly roused to the danger of this
Prussian move, despatched the Hessian and Aus-
trian divisions in hot haste &om Frankfort to defend
the most important position of Aschafienburg, and
keep the Prussians if possible horn getting across
the Main.
But the Hessians were defeated on the 13th of
July at Frohnhofen and Laufach, and the Austrians
on the 14th before Aschafienburg, which place was
ultimately stormed by the Prussians. Hereupon .
Men who have made the
Prince Alexander evacuated Frankfort in great haate,
and the Prussian general entered the ancient free
dty on the 1 6th of July. Bieberich and Darmstadt
also were occupied by the victorious Prussians. .
How ManteufFel replaced Falckenstein on the 19th
of July has already been narrated in the memoirs
of the two Prussian commanders.
Meanwhile, the junction of the Bavarians with the
8th corps had been effected at last near Wiirzburg.
The Prussian army of the Main, now reinforced to
some 60,000 effectives, followed the South Germans,
aod on the 24th of July crossed the Tauber, carryiag
the Hessian position at Wertheim, the WUrtembeig
portion at Tauberbischo&heim, and the portion of the
Baden division at Werbach. 'ITie fight at Tauber-
bischofsheim was particularly severe. Five times the
WUrtembergers, commanded by Generd Hardegg,
the Minister of War for the kingdom, tried their
hardest to regain the positions lost to the Prussians ;
but it was all in vain. In this hot fight the WUr-
temberg division suffered a loss of sixty men (nine
officers among them) killed and 450 wounded.
The 8th corps nuw took up a strong position at
Gerehsheim, the Bavarians at Helmstadt and Uet-
tingen, with Wiirzburg in the rear.
On the 25th of July G6ben attacked the 8th
, corps at Gerehsheim, Beyer the Bavarians at
Helmstadt.
Pushed up in a corner as it were, Prince Charles
New German Empire.
nov resolved to assume the offensive. He carried
this resolution into effect on the 26th of July, relying
upon the aid and support of the 8th corps. But the
same fatality which had pursued the South Germans
throughout this campaign was experienced here once
more : the Prince of Hesse failed to join in the &ay,
and, after a hotly-contested fight at Uettingen and
Rossbrunn, the advance of General Beyer from Helm-
stadt, threatening the left flank and the line of retreat
of the Bavarians, compeUed the South German forces
to retreat behind the Main, and take up their posi^
tion east of WUrzburg, This latter city, or rather the
fortress of Marienberg which defends it, was can-
nonaded from field -pieces on the 27th of July.
Soon after, the news of the armistice concluded
between the belligerents put a stop to further
hostilities.
When the war was over the disappointed Ultra-
montanista set all their organs in the press to
work at asaaUiug the reputation of General Tann
— stupendous incapacity was the mildest charge in-
sinuated against him ; most of these vile assailants
accused him point-blank of premeditated corrupt trea-
son to his king and his country. The general saw
himself literally compelled to seek the protection of
the law against these unscrupulous calumniators; and
the law, appealed to, came to his aid, clearing his
unsullied reputation, and punishing the loudest and
vilest yelpers of the pack.
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In January, 1869, Tann was made general of
infiantry, and received the command of the lat
corps of the Bavarian army. When the Fraoco-
German war broke out iu 1870, the whole of the
Bavarian contingent, consisting of the 1st corpa
mider General von der Tann, and the 2nd corps
under General Hartmann, -was placed as part of the
third army under the orders of the C3rown Prince
of Prussia.
General von der Tann and the corps commanded
by him took a leading share in the great battles of
Worth, Beaumont, and Sedan. In this last crowning
victory over M'Mahon's army it fell to the share of
the Bavarians to carry Bazeilles, a small place of
some 2.000 inhabitants, situate upon the right
bank of the Meuse, a little more than half an
English mile from Sedan. The fight here ranked
among the most hotly contested of the cam-
paign. It began at 4.30 a.m., and raged uninter-
ruptedly for six full hours. The inhabitants took
part in it by firing at the Bavarians fixim the win-
dows. They also cruelly ill-used some unhappy
wounded Germans who were at their mercy. This
led to some excesses afterwards on the part of the
enraged Bavarian soldiery, to which Tann enei^
getically put a stop.
It was asserted at the time in certain organs of
the British press that Bazeilles had been razed to
the ground by the vengeful Germans, who had ^so
: , Gooy Ic
New German Empire.
made a general massacre of tbe inhabitaDts — ^men,
women, and children. There were even some Eng-
lish gentlemen found seemingly so lost to all moral
sense of veracity as to vouch for horrors pre-
tended to have been perpetrated by the Germans,
which had no foundation whatever in truth, but
were the merest shadowy offspring of the excited
imagination of the narrators. A great French noble-
man of Stuart extraction — the Duke Fitzjames —
was not ashamed to stamp these baseless inventions
with the authority of his own high name 9x a
pretended eye-witness of the cruelties perpetrated
by the German barbarians.
General Tann's name and fame were thus covered
with obloquy and ignominy. The general never
protested against the gross injustice done him. He
patiently bided his time, which came the year after,
when the mayor and corporation of Bazeilles, of their
own free accord, published a plain statement of facta,
which triumphantly showed how wilfully the general
and his troops had been maligned.
When it became evident, in the beginning of
October, that the government of Tours were massing
considerable forces behind the Loire, with the mani-
fest intention of trying to raise the siege of Paris,
an expeditionary army was formed, consisting of the
Ist Bavarian corps, the 22nd in£intry division, and
the 2nd and 4th cavalry divisions, and placed und^
the command of General von dcr Tann, with orders
Google
252 Men who lutve made the
to break if possible the projected orgaaization of a
stroQg French army on the banks of the Loire, and to
clear the country north of the river of all hostile
forces. On the 6th of October Tann set oi^ on his
mission. On the 8th he advanced to the heights
of Etampes ; on the 9th, to Angerville, without
meeting any more serious opposition than desultory-
attempts to delay his advance made by bands of
frane-tireurs. It was reported, however, that the
French were concentrating a force of 40,000 mea
at Orleans.
On the 10th of October General von der Tana
came upon the enemy at Artenay, where some
20,000 French troops of all arms tried to make a
stand. They were, however, speedily driven back
in disorder upon Orleans, where they joined the
newly-formed 15th corps of the French army. They
left three guns and over 1,000 unwounded pri-
stmers in the hands of the victors.
On the 11th of October General von der Tann
advanced upon Orleans, with the 22nd infantry
division and the 2nd Bavarian division in the first
line, the 1st Bavarian division in reserve, and the
two cavalry divisions on both wings in observation.
At 10.30 A.M. the German vanguard came first into
coUiaion with the French, who fought most valiantly
and obstinately, so that it was not before late in the
evening, after a nine hours' arduous struggle, that they
could be driven back across the Loire. Fortunately
New German Empire. 253
for the Genaana, the bridges over the river had been
left intact, ao that they could cross over and cany
the city by storm. In this battle again the French
had heavy losses in killed and wounded, besides some
2,500 unwounded prisoners taken by the victorious
Germans. The total loss sudered by the latter in
the two fights at Artenay and Orieans amounted to
60 officers and more than 1,200 men killed and
wounded.
Ilie French retreated to Bourges. Gambetta,
undismayed by losses and crosses, continued his
efforts to organize a new French army. He ap-
pointed to the chief command General Aurelle de
Paladines, one of the best and most meritorious officers
of the French service. Neither of these two truly
great men have as yet been treated with common
fairness by contemporary report. Impartial history
will in the end do justice to both of them, and
vindicate their well-earned fame to posterity.
General von der Tann was instructed from head-
quarters to content himself with the position gained,
and not to carry operations beyond the Orleans line.
In the latter days of October and the beginning of
November it became clear that the new French army
of the Loire had assumed formidable proportions.
Aurelle de Paladines determined to take the offensive
against the Germans in and about Orleans, and a
general move in advance was made by the French
on the 3rd and 4th of November.
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It was now reported to General von der Tann by
his scouts, that Aurelle de Paladines was advancing
against him at the head of more than 60,000 men,
to whom he could at the most oppose some
28,000 effectives, as the 22nd infantry and a cavalry
division had meanwhile been withdrawn &om his
command. The general resolved at once to recon-
noitre the true position of affairs, and ascertain the
actual strength of the French opposed to him.
Leaving a regiment of infantry in garrison at
Orleans, he in the night of the 8th-9th of Novem-
ber concentrated his forces at Coulmiers, awaiting
the French attack.
Coulmiers is a small place in the department of
the Loii-et, circle of Orleans, from which city it is
some fifteen English miles distant. Here Tann was
attacked in the morning of the 9th of November by
an overwhelming French force under Aurelle de
Paladines. After a most obstinate fight — in which
the 'French, according to their own account, suffered
a heavy loss of some 2,000 men killed and wounded,
whilst the Germans lost only 42 ofBcers and some
700 men killed and wounded — General von der
Tann broke off the fight, and retreated in perfect order
to St. Pdravy, on the road from Orleans to Paris.
At noon he had withdrawn the small garrison from
Orleans. One thousand sick and wounded Germans
had to be left behind. The next day a small detach-
ment of artillery ammunition reserve lost its way,
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New Gemum Empire. 255
and fell into the handa of the French, wiih. two guns
without carriages. These were the only trophies the
French had to show of the hot fight of Ooulmiers.
Tann effected his retreat with conannLmate skill.
Indeed, this retreat to St. Pdravy and, the day after,
when the 22nd infantry division under Wittich had
again joined the Bavarians, to the safer position of
Toary,.ha8 been acknowledged by friend and foe alike
to deserve to rank with the highest strategic achieve-
ments, and is of itself sufficient to mark General von
der Tann as one of the greatest military leaders of
the age.
The cavalry division commanded by Prince Albrecht
the elder (one of King Wilham'a brothers), coming up
from Chartres, also joined the Bavarian corps on the
10th of November, and the day after the Mecklenburg
division came up under the Grand Duke Frederick
Francis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a nephew of the
Pruasian king, to whom the command over the
combined force was given — over the head of Von der
Tann, who, without a chance of contradiction, was
immeasurably and incomparably the greater military
leader of the two. Moltke had taken care, however,
to limit his royal highness'a power of command to
the mere empty title, the real leadership being vested
in General von Stosch, the chief of the grand duke'a
staff, one of the most highly accomplished officera of
the Pruaaian service, who ia now holding the important
poaition of First Lord of the Prussian Admiralty.
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Under these circumstances Tann might put up with
the alight appareutly put upon him by placing a mere
grand duke in command over him ; and he nobly
did his duty in the new campaign, which was
victoriously opened at Dreux on the 1 7th of October,
just eight days after the affair at Coulmiers. He and
his Bavarians distinguished themselves more par-
ticularly at Bazoches-les-Hautes on the 2nd of
December, at Orleans on the 3rd and 4th of
December, and at Beaugency on the 7th and 10th
of December.
At the end of December the 1st Bavarian corps
under Von der Tann rejoined the besieging army
around Paris, where it replaced the 2nd Prussian
corps, sent forward to the east, to join Manteuffel's
forces intended to act against Bourbaki.
After the termination of the war, General von der
Tann shared in the glory of the solemn entry of the
German army into Berlin on the^ 16 th of June,
1871. A month after, on the 16th of July, he
commanded the Bavarian army on its triumphant
entry into Munich.
In the banning of October, 1872, General von
der Tann was sent on an eztraordinary mission to
Stockholm, to represent King Louis of Bavaria at the
fimeral of King Charles XV. of Sweden, who had
died on the l7th of September, 1872.
General von der Tann, who has had a profusion of
military orders and decorations bestowed upon him
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New German Empire.
by hia own king and other rulers, continues still in
command of the lat corps of the Bavarian army.
There ia good reason to believe that it had been the
intention of the Emperor William to include the
names of Von der Tann and Hartmaun in the list of
general oflficera upon whom monetary grants were to
be conferred, but that the emperor had to give up
this intention reluctantly, in deference to certain
objections urged against its execution by the King of
Bavaria. At least, so the writer of this memoir has
been informed.
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GENERAL HARTMANN.
Jakob (James) Haetmann was born on the 4th of
May, 1795, at Maikammer, in the Palatinate. He
was a posthumous chili His adoptive father, the
French General Geither, provided for his education
at the French military schools of Bonn and St. Cyr.
In 1806, General Geither was charged by the
Emperor Napoleon with the organization of the
military forces of the newly-created Grand Duchy of
Berg, which the ruler of France had just then be-
stowed upon his brother-in-law, Joachim Murat The
general at once entered the name of the boy, who
was then only eleven years old, on the muster-roll
of the 1st regiment of the Grand Duchy of Berg bb
volunteer, promoting him afterwards, whilst still re-
maining at the schools of Bonn and St Cyr, suc-
cessively to the grades of corporal, sergeant, and
sab-lieutenant, until ultimately, in 1811, the lad, then
barely sixteen, joined the regiment in active service
as first lieutenant — a striking illustratioD of the power
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of patronage and the pernicious influence of favourit-
ism in the much-vaunted military system of imperial
France and its dependencies. That the boy-lieutenant
in the end turned out an excellent soldier and most
eminent commander in the field, was certainly no
merit of the system.
From 1811 to 1815, young Hartmann did faithful
service to the IVench empire. Upon the disarmament
of the military contingent of the Rhine Confederation,
he entered the 27th French infantry regiment. In
1814, he distinguished himself by a most cleverly-
devised, successful ambush, in which a detachment
of Cossacks advancing from Montargis upon Orleans
was caught. In 1815 he fought most bravely
at Planchenoit, in the great battle of Waterloo,
saving the eagle of his regiment from capture by
the advancing Prussians,
After the final overthrow of the empire, young
Hartmann, who, despite his French education, was
a most ardent lover of his native land, and had
continued to serve the emperor only from an over-
powering sense of military loyalty, resigned his
commission in the French army in 1816. A few
months after, he obtained a lieutenancy in the 10th
Bavarian infantry regiment. His sterling soldierly
qualities and brilliant military acquirements soon
attracted the attentiwi of his chiefs, so that he was
appointed in 1818 to a place in the Topographic
Bureau. After f
r four years' arduous work in this moBt^ ,
S2 '"'-'-"-'Sl'-'
260 Men who have made the
important department, he waa transferred to the corps
of engineers ; and two years after, in 1824, he waa
appointed on the general staff of the army.
In 1827 he was promoted to the rank of captain,
and attached to the Ministry of War as reporter to
the board of administration.
Having in the course of these first ten years of
his service repeatedly been charged with military
missions necessitating journeys to various parts of
Europe, and having also turned hts occasional leaves
of absence to excellent account, by travelling about
in search of information upon subjects connected with
or bearing upon the art and science of war. Captain
Hartmann, though then only thirty-two years old,
enjoyed already the deserved reputation of being one
of the most solidly informed and most highly accom-
plished German officers.
He had by no means confined himself to the
pursuit of military knowledge, but had aasiduooaly
studied also many branches of science, and kindly
taken, besides, to the faithful cultivation of the fine
arts, more especially painting, in which he may
truly be said to have been as skilful and successlul
an adept as the great Vogel von Falckenstein himselC
The writer of this memoir has seen some battle pieces
painted by General Hartmatm, which convincingly
showed that the artist was just as expert in illus-
trating episodes of war as the warrior was in taking
an active part in them.
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New German Empire.
Id 1842 Captain Hartmaun was promoted to tlie
rank of major, and appointed one of the Crown
Prince's adjutants by King Louis, by whom he was
held in the highest esteem both as an eminent artist
and a brilliant officer. His promotion had not been
very rapid, it will be seen. He had been sixteen years
a first-lieutenant and fifteen years a captain. But
from this time forward he ascended the rungs of the
military advancement ladder more rapidly, six years
sufficing to transform the simple major into a fiill
major-general and one of the chief aides-de-camp of
the king.
In 1846 he submitted to the Ministry of War an
excellent plan for the re-organization of the Bavarian
array, which was much lauded by the minister and
the military cabinet, but was only very partially
acted upon.
In 1853 he elaborated a new code of service regu-
lations for the infantry — with somewhat similar
results, it woiUd appear. The time for thorough-
going reforms in the Bavarian service had not yet
come.
The year after, in 1854, General Hartmann, who
had now for five years commanded a brigade, was
sent on a military mission to the Gamp de Boulogne.
Here he turned his opportunities to the beat account.
He carefully studied the organization and condition
of the French army, and took note of its glaring
defects and shortcomings. He also closely observed
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the system of fortificationB around Paris and all along
the eastern frontier of France.
The results of these studies and observations he
submitted, some six years after, in 1860, to the rulers
of the German states in a memoir treating exhaustively
of the military power, and the offensive and defensive
strength, of the French empire. There can be no
doubt that both Bismarck and Moltke, each in
his own special way, fully availed themselves subse-
quently of the facts, hints, and inferences given in
this excellent treatise.
In 1861 Hartmann attained the high rank of
lieutenant-generaL In the war of 1866 he com-
manded the 4th infantry division, and fought
brilliantly though not victoriously at Rossdorf. At
Kissing'en he could do but Uttle, owing to the gross
blundering and the glaringly faulty dispositions of
the incapable commander-in-chief of the Bavarian
army. In the final encounter at Wurzburg, on the
27th of July, he did his best at least to guard the
honour of the Bavarian arms.
With Hartmann's known patriotic German feelings,
he must have been heartily glad of the termination of
this fratricidal war, into which Louis of Bavaria had
allowed himself to be dragged by the wretched set
of Ultramontaniat and Particularist advisers who were
then exercising supreme sway over the land and the
king. The overthrow of this anti-national cabal by
the victories of Prussia must have proved 8 healing
JVew German Empire.
balm for his heart, 80 grievously struck and wounded
by the sad display of incapacity and folly in the
highest quarter of the army command.
In 1867 King Louis bestowed upon Lieutenant-
General Hartmann the proprietorship of the 14th
infantry regiment, in acknowledgment of the great
services rendered by the general, more especially of
the brilliant bravery with which he had fought at
Rossdorf and Wurzburg.
Two years after, in 1869, the lieutenant-general
was finally raised to the full rank of general of
infantry, and appointed commander of the 2nd corps
of the Bavarian army.
When the war broke out in 1870 between France
and Germany, both the corps of Hartmann and that
of Von der Tann were incorporated in the army
under the command of the Crown Prince of Prussia
— the so-called third army.
General Hartmann had now for the first time in
his military career in the German army the fuUest op-
portunity afforded him of giving practical proof of his
high tactical skill in the field, in entire harmony with
his ardent patriotic German feelings ; and nobly and
grandly did he avail himself of this opportunity. It
was he who contributed moat largely and prominently
to the winning of the first great victory at Weissen-
bui^ ; and again he who, by his skilful and energetic
attack upon the left French flank, initiated the still
greater victory of Worth, which he completed by
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the taking of Froschweiler, the railway station at
Reichshofen, and ultimately of Niederbronn.
On the 14th of August, 1870, he forced Marsal to
surrender. In the battle of the Ist of September, one
of the divdsions under his command took the village
of Ballan, whilst the other was pushed forward to
the very foot of the glacis of the fortress, the artillery
of the corps assailing the citadel with a shower of
projectiles.
To General Hartmann'a share it fell to gain the
first successes before Paris, on the 16th, l7th, and
18th of September, at CorbeO and Petit- BicStre.
On the 19th of September, the 2nd Bavarian corps
joined the 5th Prussian corps in a most successful
attack upon General Vinoy's forces, posted on the
heights of Sceau. General Hartmann carried the plateau
Moulin de la Tour (Chatillon), which highly important
position, commanding the south forts, and, in a certain
measure, the city of Paris, the general set at once
to work to provide with the most effective defences
against all possible attacks on the part of the French.
These defences were completed in the briefest time,
and the 2nd Bavarian corps was thus placed in a
position to victoriously repulse all attacks made upon
the plateau from the forts, although throughout the
siege ship guns of the very heaviest calibre kept on
deluging the parts held by the Germans under Hart-
mann in their entire length and breadth with a perfect
shower of the most destructive projectiles, and several
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desperate attempts were made by the French to foree
the Germans from their post by the crushing weight
of overwhelming numbers. The formidable attack
made upon Clamart, in the night of 14th-15th
January, 1871, waa one of the last of these attempts.
It failed like the rest
After the termination of the war, General Hart-
mann returned to his headquarters at Wurzburg.
King Louis bestowed upon him, as a signal mark of
his high appreciation of the most important services
rendered by the general in the campaign, the rare
distinction of the Grand Cross of the military Maxi-
milian Joseph order, which had not been con-
ferred on anyone since the days of the "War of
Liberation. He also raised him to a free hereditary
barony. The cities of Speyer and Wurzburg were
proud to enrol him among their citizena The
Emperor of the Germaos and Kin g of Prussia gave
him the orders of the Iron Cross of the first class
and the second class, and of the Crown with Swords.
So when the old general departed this life, on the
22nd of February, 1873, it might' well be said of
him that he died full of years and honours.
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GENERAL ALVENSLEBEN II.
As this general, by hia prompt decision, energetic
action, and high tactical skill, contributed so largely
to the succt'^.=ful issue of the fierce battle of Mars-
la-Tour, a brief memoir of his career may not be
deemed out of place here.
Constantine von Alvensleben is descended from an
ancient noble family. He was born on the 26th of
August, 1809. Like many other scions of the Prussian
nobility, he received his education at the great Insti-
tute of the Cadet Corps at Berlin. At the age of
eighteen he obtained his commission as second heu-
tenant. His promotion was rather slow, for he was
piist forty-four before he attained the rank of major.
At the time of the Danish war in 1864, he had
reached the grade of colonel. In this war he dis-
tinguished himself by his personal bravery and the
consummate skill with which he handled his regiment
in the various encounters with the Danes. After the
war he was made a major-general, and had the com-
New Oerman Empire.
maad of a brigade of the guards given to him, at
the head of which he gained great distinction in
the Bohemian campaign of 1866, more particularly at
the battle of Koniggratz, where, after the fall of
General Hiller von Gartricgen, he took the command
of the lat division of the guards, left, unhappily,
vacant by the death of that heroic leader on the
battle'-field.
King William showed hia due appreciation of the
eminent services rendered by Alvensleben, by raising
him to the rank of lieutenant-general, and bestowing
upon him the actual command of the Ist division
of the guards, which he had temporarily led at
Koniggratz. In 1870, when the war with France
broke out, and Prince Frederick Charles had intrusted
to him the lead of the so-called second army, Lieu-
tenant-General von Alvensleben was promoted to
replace the prince in the command of the 3rd corps
of the Prussian army.
It was in one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles
of the Franco-German war, at Mars-la-Tour, on the
16th of August, 1870, that General Alvensleben had
a glorious opportunity afforded him of showing his
high military qualities on a field which coidd not
possibly be more favourable for the display, and
most gloriously did he avail himself of this op-
portunity.
With his single corps (the Srd) unsupported till
the battle was far advanced, he fought for hours
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against overwhelming French forces (the corps of
Decaen, Ladmirault, Frossard, Canrobert, and the
French imperial guard), holding his tenacious grasp
upon them until at length Prince Frederick Charles
could bring up part of the 8th, 9th, and 10th corps,
and, though still greatly inferior in numbers to the
French host, after twelve hours' incessant fighting
force the enemy back into Metz.
There was a most critical moment in this battle of
Mars-la-Tour, when Canrobert was on the point of
breaking through the feeble Prussian force which
was 60 desperately striving to hold him fixed to
the ground. He was just preparing to throw forward
the two corps which formed the centre of his army
at Vionville. Had he succeeded in accomplishing
this move, the French army of the Rhine might have
made good its escape from the meshes of the net
so skilfully thrown round it by Moltke's genius.
But General Alvensleben was equal to the occasion.
With marvellously prompt decision he resolved to
risk the total loss of two regiments of cavalry, by
hurling them against the French centre at Vionville
before Canrobert should be able to execute his pro-
jected movement in advance.
Six squadrons of Prussian cavalry, three of the
i6th Lancers, and three of the 7th Cuirassiers, were
selected by the general for the purpose. The lead
of the attacking force was intrusted to Count Schmet-
tau, colonel of the 7ih Cuirassiers, who threw his
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New German Empire.
small force with a desperate dash upon the French
centre at Vionville, completely confusing Canrobert,
and effectually staying the intended advance until
the favourable moment for it had paaaed away. The
gallant Prussian cavalry got safely hack afterwards
out of the seemingly inevitable jaws of death, albeit
with heavy loss of killed and wounded.
This magnificent tactical stroke fully deserves to
rank with those brilliant inspirations of genius by
which Claudius Nero snatched the assured victory
from great Hasdrubal m the decisive battle of the
Metaurus, and Kellermau turned the Austrian victory
at Marengo into a disastrous defeat
At Gravelotte the 3rd corps, under Alvenaleben,
formed the reserve along with the 10th corps ; the
artillery of the 3rd corps, and part of its infantry,
took an active share in the actual fight
The 3rd corps joined subeequeutly in the siege of
Metz, where it participated in the repulse of
Bazaine's last attempt, of the 7th of October, 1870,
to break out of the iron circle thrown round his
anny by the Germans. Later on the corps took an
efiective part in the fights at Beaune-la-Rolande,
Ohevilly and Chilliers-aux-Bois, Orleans, Venddme,
kc, and finally in tixe crowning victory of Lrc
Maos.
If the past may be looked upon as a pledge for
the future, there is certainly every reason to con-
jecture that General von Alvensleben, who is only
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in his sixty-sixth year, may have a still more brilliant
career before him.
Here our list of commanders in the field must
end, although many other generals who have also
largely contributed to make the new German em-
pire might fairly claim a place, — Prince Augustus
of Wurtemberg, for instance, the excellent com-
mander of the Prussian guards. Generals Alvens-
leben I., Blnmenthal, Barnekow, Beyer, Bose,
Craushaar (who fell at St Privat, on the 18th of
August, 1 8 70), Degenfeld, Francois (who fell at
Spicheren, on the 6th of August, 1870), Fransecky,
GlUmer, Goltz, Keller, Kirchbach, Kummer, Man-
etein, Mutiua (who died of cholera in 1866), Ober^
nitz, Eheinliaben, Schlotheim, Schmeling, Sperling,
Stiehle, Stosch, Treskow, Tumpling, Voigta-Rhetz,
Waldersee, Wartensleben, AVedell, William of Baden,
Wittich, Zastrow, and a host of other leaders, the
briefest sketches of whose achievements woidd fill many
volumes, but whom we are compelled to pass over, as
we have barely left space sufficient for brief memoirs
of General Hindersin, the late chief of the Pruaaian
Board of Ordnance ; Heydt and Caraphausen, the
two great financiers who found the nervus rerum
in 1866 and 1870; President Delbrtick and Coun-
cillor Lothar Bucher, and, lastly, Dreyse and Krupp,
of needle-gun and steel cannon fame ; and Griinbei^,
the intelligent cook who concocted the pea sausage.
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New Gei'man Empire.
GENERAL HINDERSIN.
In the memoir of Field-Marshal Roon it has been
explaiaed at greater length how the new military
organization initiated and perfected by Schamhorst
and Gneisenau, which had so successfully stood the
test of the great Liberation War, had in the course of
time grown antiquated and rusty, and must of neces-
sity have proved a disastrous failure if tried when
no longer kept up by the burning patriotism and the
deep hatred of the foreign oppressor that had per-
vaded the great citizen host throughout the campaigns
of 1813-15 ; and how the brilliant genius of Roon had
succeeded in converting this somewhat clumsy and
inefficient weapon into the exquisitely tempered arm
with which Bismarck and King William had wrested
supremacy in Germany from the strong and tenacious
grasp of Austria in 1866, and, some few years later,
supremacy in Europe from the proud hold of France.
But even with his brilliant genius and his immense
power of organization, Roon might have found
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Men who have made the
success impraeticable in the gigantic task undertaken
by him, had he oot been most ably seconded by
many other men of bis own high stamp of intellect.
Among his most efficient helpers we may cursorily
mention here the late Prince Adalbert of Prussia, the
chief creator of the infant navy of Germany, which
whenever the time for a first trial of its strength shall
come, is sure to prove itaelf an infant Hercules; the
late Prince Albrecht of Prussia, brother of the emperor,
who has contributed most largely to ensure the marvel-
lous efficiency of the Prussian cavalry in the field ;
Generals Etzel, Holleben, Kameke, OUech, Peucka:,
Podbielski, Wartenberg, and, more particularly, the
subject of this memoir, Hindersin, to whose high
capacity and patient perseverance the Prussian
w^lery owes its actual vast Ruperiority over any
other gunnery force on the continent of Europe.
Gustavus Edward Hindersin was the son of a
Lutheran clergyman, who held a small curacy at
Wernigerode, in the Harz district. Born on the 18th
of July, 1804, he was carefully educated by his father,
and embraced the military career at the early age of
sixteen, from natural predilection for the profession
of arms.
In October, 1820, he entered the 3rd artUlery
brigade, then in garrison at Erfurt. The young
aspirant had to wait five years before he obtained
his first commission ba second lieutenant However,
his evident high capacity, sober and studious chaiw^er,
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Nev3 German Empire. 273
and solid acquirementB soon attracted the attention
of his chiefs, and he was sent to the general War
School at Berlin, to complete his scientific military
education.
After this he waa ordered to join the topographic
section of the general staff of the army.
Id 1841 he obtained his promotion to a first lieu-
tenancy, and was appouited on the general staff. The
year after, in 1842, he waa made a captain, and four
years later, in 1846, he was promoted to the rank •
of major, and made chief of the topographic section.
In this position he remained till the summer of
1849, when he waa ordered to join General Peucker's
combined German corps in the campaign against the
Baden insui^nts, first as assistant-chief, soon after as
principal chief of the staff. He was present at the
encounters at Lautershausen and Ladenburg. During
the latter fight he had occasion to ascend the city
tower, to be better able to reconnoitre the forces of
the enemy. At this juncture the insurgents obtained
a temporary success, and Major Hindersin was cut
off before he could effect his retreat from his high
observatory. He was carried a prisoner to Rastatt,
but released soon after by his captors when the in-
surrection had collapsed.
Aft«r the termination of the campaign. Major
Hinderain was appointed on the staff of the 6th
corps at Breslau. In 1850 he was entered as major
on the muster-roll of the 6th artillery regiment, and
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four years after, in 1854, be was made lieuteoaDt-
colonel and commander of the 2nd artillery regiment.
The same year he was promoted to the rank of full
colonel, and four years later, in 1853, he was made
major-general and inspector of the 3rd artillery
inspection.
On the ISth of October, 1S61, Hindersin was named
lieutenant-general by King William, and appointed
inspector of the 2nd artillery inspection at Berlin ;
also president of the board of examiners for first-
lieutenancy commissions in the artillery.
In the Danish war of 1864, General HindersLn
organized the engineer and artillery attacks upon the
works of DUppel, and the successful issue of the
operations, and of the final assault, delivered on the
ISth of April, was due in a great measure to his
skill and energy.
King William, wishing to bestow upon the general
a signal mark of his high appreciation of his long
and eminent services, raised him to the Prussian
peerage, and appointed him in December, 1864, first
and sole inspector-general of artillery, and curator of
the high school for artillerists and engineers.
General Hindersin entered now upon the most suc-
cessful and productive period of his career. It is
not too much to say that he revolutionized the entire
PrussiaD gunnery system — nay, that he created anew
the Prussian artillery such as it is at the present day.
He organized the systematic artillery practice at
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New German Empire.
Berlin. He directed and superintended with the
most anxious care the substitution of the most effi-
cient rifled cannons for the much less perfect ordnance
of the past. He introduced the Kriegsspiel, or war
game, among the obligatory branches of the edu-
cation of artillery officers, himself inventing a new-
variation of the game as applied more especially to
sieges. He organized extensive exercises in siege
operations, and in the defence of fortresses. He in-
sisted most strongly upon the tactical improvement
of the officers under his inspection, and never ceased
calling their most serious attention to the high im-
portance of a proper comprehension and appreciation
of gunnery practice. He laid it down as an axiom
in artillery firing, that no shot should be thrown
away or fired at random.
When the war of 1866 broke out, the great reforms
carried out since then by General Hindersin were
still in the period of initiation ; besides, except per-
haps at Koniggriltz, the Prussian artillery had not a
feir opportunity afforded it in the Bohemian cam-
paign to show what it might be able to do in case
of need . General Hindersin, however, attended the
king at the royal head-quarters from the beginning
of July to the end of the campaign. He was then
promoted to the rank of general of infantry.
In 1868 he was appointed a member of the land
defence conunission. In September, 1869, King
William bestowed another signal mark of his high
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Men who have made the
appreciation of Hindersin'a eminent services upon the
general, by conferring upon him the chiefahip of the
Pomeranian regiment of field artillery No. 2.
In the war of 1870-71, General Hindersin attended
the king at royal head-quarters from first to last as
general-in-chief of the German artillery. He was
present at the battles of Gravelotte and Sedan, and
during the siege and bombardment of Paris, and
shared personally in the fights of la belle St. Cloud,
and beneath Mont Vul^rien.
On the 18th of July, 1871, General Hindersin
celebrated the jubilee of the fiftieth anniversary of
his entering the Prussian military service, having been
unable to do so on the proper day, the J 8th of
October, 1870, on account of the war then waging.
It was a most glorious festival for the old man — his
majesty the emperor and king, the Crown Prince, and
the other princes of the imperial and royal house, the
German kings and princes, and the general's brothers-
in-arms eagerly vieing with each other to pour their
sincerest congratulations and best gifts and wishes
upon him. Six months and eight days after, on
the 25th of January, 1872, he departed this life,
universally regretted, more especially by hia " chil-
dren," as he used to afiectionately call the oflBcers, non-
commissioned officers, and men of the artillery force,
which owes its actual high efficiency chiefly to his
solicitous care.
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New German Empire.
THE MONEY MARSHALS.
The great Raymond Montecuculi, one of the most
distinguiBhed Anstriau commanders of the seveDteent^
century, the worthy rival and competitor of Turenne
and Cond^, in his famous work on the art and science
of war (published first in the original Italian by Ugo
Foscolo, in 1807, at Milan, and subsequently once
more by Giassi, in 1821, at Turin), lays it down as a
leading axiom, that he who would indulge in the en-
ticing but perilous pursuit of armed strife should, first
and foremost, make ample provision of three things
— money, to wit, in the first place; mosey, again,
in the second place ; and MONEY, finally, in the
third place. Long ere the brilliant Modenese had
penned this sage maxim, its truth had been prac-
tically illustrated many and many times by the
experience of all preceding ages.
Now, as the chief part of Bismarck's perilous
venture for the Imperial German Unity Stakes had
II.;, Google
278 Men who Itave made the
to be played on the battle-field, the two eminent
men to whom the guidance of the financial depart-
ment of the Btate was intrusted in these critical times
may well and deservedly claim a niche in tiiis Wal-
halla of Gennao worthies.
XIX.
HEYDT.
" Der'B Tacaam mazime defleadam, die horrible Leere,
Den tlulerloaen Abgruud, Ton BodelschTringli ibm hinteilassen.
So Tunderbarlich ausgefuUt; zu seines K&mene ew'ger Ehre
Hejdtmasaig viel des Gelda geschaSt in die geleerten Kaaaen."
(Which may be briefly paiapbnsed, in Temacular prose on-
adorned: — ^ vho so wondrousl; filled np the deplorable
vacuuni, the horrible hollow, the dollarless abyss, left him
by Bodelschwingh ; and, to his name's undying honoor, made
a rich Pactolean stream flov into the empty treasniy.)
AuGUSTDs TDK DEE Heydt Was bom on the 15th
of February, 1801, at Elberfeld, where his father
was chief of one of the leading banking establish-
menta of Rhineland- Westphalia. Brought up almost
from infancy to mercantile pursuits, he from an
early age displayed signs of the mai-vellous aptitude
for business that distinguished him through life.
After finishing his commercial education in Germany,
he worked a few years as clerk and correspondait
U,:,-i:PdbyG00gk'
New German Empire.
in several leading houses of commerce and finance ia
France and in England.
Having passed through this excellent practical
school, he, in conjunction with his brothers Charles
and "William, entered upon the management of the
parental bankiug house in Elberfeld.
He was still a very young man at the time, but
his manifest sound practical sense, and his eminent
capacity for active work, soon drew upon him the
attention of his fellow-citizens, who elected him a
member of the municipal couDcil of Elberfeld, at
an age when most young men of wealth and sta-
tion would barely think of extending the display
of their gifts beyond the social circle and the ball-
room. He at once became one of the most active
and painstaking members of the corporation, and
strove from the very commencement of his municipal
career to fulfil his civic duties to the best of his trans-
cendent ability. Heydt was truly a great citizen in
the fullest sense of the tenn.
He took a leading share in every measure of public
improvement. The admirable ^stem of administer-
ing to the wants of the indigent, which makes the
Elberfeld poor-law regulations the marvel and model
of all communities with philanthropic aspirations,
owes its origin and elaboration chiefly to him.
He had only just attaioed the legal age for the
o£Bce when he was elected one of the judges of the
Tribunal of Commerce of Elberfeld, and soon after,
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280 Men who have made the
he was raised to the presidential chair of the Coiirt,
which he occupied uninterruptedly for many a long
year, it may fairly be said, with the universal appro-
bation of all who had occasion to have recourse to
that high tribunal.
In 1841 he was elected to represent his native
cil^ at the Rhenan Provincial Diet; and in 1842
he attended the sittings of the United Committees
of the collective Prussian Estates at Berlin. He was
sent also to the United Provincial Diet of 1847.
Here he was one of the most active members. He
warmly advocated the conversion of the old cum-
brous Provincial Estates into a real constitutional
representation of the whole land
When 1848 came, with its violent commotions and
perturbations, Heydt, with his exceUent sense, foresaw
at once the lame and impotent conclusion to which
the ill-coDsidered, extravagant, revolutionary projects
and aspirations of that tempestuous period were
inevitably tending. So he resolved to have naught
to do with the political movement of the time, and
accordingly declined to accept the mandate of deputy
tendered to him, to represent Elberfeld at the Nation^
Assemblies of Frankfort-on-the-Main and Berlin. He
also declined the seat proffered him in tiie Prassian
Cabinet by the Pfuel-Eichmann administration. He
knew that the time had not yet come for useful
collaboration in the regeneration of Prussia.
It Wii9 only after the translocation of the van-
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New Gei'man Empire.
quiehed assembly from Berlin to Brandenburg that
he could be prevailed upon to accept the proffered
mandate. On the 4th day of December, 1848, the
day of the dissolution of the Prussian National
Assembly, he accepted the oflSce of President of the
Board of Trade and Public Works in the Branden-
burg-Manteuffel cabinet
In this capacity he brought his rare energy and
great talents to bear upon the arduous task before him,
and rendered the most eminent services to the govern-
ment and the country. In 1851 he accepted also
the chairmanship of the Bank of Prussia, to the
manifest advantage of that great institution.
Upon the retirement of the Manteuffel cabinet,
on the 6th of November, 1858, Heydt retained his
old office in the new Hohenzollem ministry, and
subsequently in the Auerswald-Schwerin adminis-
tration, until the 18th of March, 1862, when the
Liberal cabinet resigned, in consequence of Hagen's
motion to have a specified budget submitted to the
House being carried.
Hohenlohe-Itzenplitz, who succeeded, offered Heydt
the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, which he
accepted. This was, unhappily, the time when the
conflict between parliament and crown anent Boon's
military reorganization plan was raging most fiercely.
Heydt, who, though with preponderating Con-
servative leanings, had still a considerable admix-
ture of constitutional Liberalism in the composition
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Men who have made tke
of his political character, strove hard to steer a
middle course between the two opposing ciurenta
He wrote a letter to Roon, then Minister of War,
in which he endeavoured to persuade his colleague
to drop the proposed additions to the taxes, and
consent to economise in the budget of the Ministry
of War instead. This letter somehow found
its way into publicity, most likely through Heydt's
own instrumentality. But it failed in its evident
purpose to conciliate the Liberal majority of the
chamber.
Heydt's offer to submit a specified budget to the
House, in cocformity with Hagen's motion, proved
equally unsuccessful, and the attempted conversion
of the 4^ per cent, loans of 1850 and 1851 into
4 per cent, consols gave also a negative result
To fill up the measure of Heydt's failures and
disappointments at this critical juncture, the king
turned a deaf ear to the counsels of concession and
conciliation tendered him by his Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
Thus foUed at all points, the unlucky Minister
of Finance took the pretext of Bismarck's appoint-
ment to the Premiership, on the 23rd of September,
1862, to tender his resignation to the king, which
his majesty was pleased to accept, graciously bestow-
ing upon the retiring minister an hereditary peer^e
as a mark of his royal favour.
Baron von der Heydt took his seat on the Con-
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New Oerman Umpire. 283
servative benches, and voted with the government on
most questions.
At the end of May, 1866, when war withAustria and
her German abettors had clearly become inevitable,
and Bodelschwingh, Heydt's successor, who had held
the Chancellorship of the Exchequer since the 1st
of October, 1862, had the cool assurance to drily
inform bis majesty the king that there was not
a thaler in the treasury to defray the expenses of
the intended war, Bismarck, who has always shown
a singular aptitude in choosing the fittest instruments
for his work, advised the king to send for Baron
von der Heydt, who was thus once more made
Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the 2nd of June,
1866.
He had a most difficult task before him. Money
must be had for the impending war, yet a loan was
clearly out of the question, considering the hostile
feelings of the majority of the Prussian Commons.
Von der Heydt was equal to the task. By the
judicious sale and transfer of certain railways belong-
ing to the state, he obtained funds sufficient to de&ay
the heavy expenses of the war ; and, by a wise ad-
ministration of the resources of the country, he
succeeded in rescuing the Prussian exchequer from
the slough of despond into which the incapable
feudalist and Austrophile Bodelschwingh had plunged
it de gaieti de cceur.
Indeed, so thoroughly did the new Chancellor of the
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284 Men who have made the
Exchequer succeed, that he could appear on the 5th
of August, 1866, hefore the Chambers with a highly-
satisfactory budget for 1867, which showed the
finances of the country to be in a most brilliant and
truly healthy condition, unexampled in the history of
the Prussian exchequer, not only providing amply for
all current wants, but even enabling the minister to
gratify many legitimate wishes which, up to this, had
had to be ignored of necessity for lack of means.
It was at this time also that Von der Heydt
rendered a moat signal service to the cause of con-
stitutional liberty in Prussia, by standing manfully,
by Bismarck in the hard fight waged by the great
man with the reactionary majority in the cabinet and
the stiff-necked old king to force their reluctant con-
sent to acknowledge that the king's government had,
since 1862, violated the constitution, albeit in the true
interests of the country, and that the only proper and
constitutional way to purge this infraction of the
great fundamental law of the land was to ask the
representatives of the people to grant a bill of
indemnity for the past
The bill of indemnity, drawn up by Von der
Heydt, was granted by the Commons, and thus a
happy end was put at last to the lamentable conflict
which had for years divided the government and the
country into two hostile camps.
The House, thus judiciously put into the very best
and most yielding humour, granted the Chancellor of
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New German Empire.
the Exchequer all he wanted to carry on his majesty's
government — to wit, a vote of 9,OO0,0O0Z. for the
extraordinary army and navy budget, and the
creation of the state treasure upon a new legal basis.
From 1866 to 1869, Von der Heydt remained at
the head of the Prussian exchequer, the king re-
peatedly declining to accept the resignation tendered
by the baroD on account of his failing health.
But it was not alone that the Prussian Finance
Minister's health was giving way — the condition of
the country also had been changing for the worse.
Trade and commerce were beginning to show alarming
signs of stagnation ; several bad harvests in succession
had interfered sadly with the prosperity of the land.
The incorporation of the new provinces was necessarily
attended with financial embarrassments and difficul-
ties, which seemed to require a more vigorous hand to
effectively deal with them than that of an old man
close upon seventy, and in indifferent health.
So it came to pass that the budget for 1 870
showed a deficit of some £800,000 upon the finan-
cial year, which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
proposed to cover by additions to the direct taxes;
and this the Prussian Commons were not disposed
to grant.
Von der Heydt, feeling his absolute inability to
grapple with the difficulties of his position, tendered
his resignation once more to the king, who was at
last graciously pleased to accept it, bestowing upon.
Men who ha/oe made the
the retiring statesman the rare distinction of the
Order of the Black Eagle as a most signal mark of
the royal appreciation of his eminent services.
Baron Von der Heydt died last June in Berlin,
leaving an immense fortune to his family, and
several large bequests for charitable and philanthropic
purposes.
It may not be altogether out of place here to men-
tion that Von der Heydt was for many years a leading
member of the board of directors of the pidiicipal
Rhenan railways, which may be truly said to owe
their actual prosperity, in a very great measure at
least, to his wise, skilful, and enei^tic management
of their affairs.
CAHPHAUSEN.
" Wie er, Tentaod's wohl je mq Finanzier bo gat,
Den Manco umzuwandeln in den Ueberfloss;
Dei Kasse seichte Ebbe in die hoha Fluth,
Das BcMimme Deficit in achonen XTebeTBchosa 1 "
(Did ever financier know ao well as he how to convert lack into
abundance, the exchequer's dij ebb into a rich high tide of
cafh, the aad deficit into a handsome surplus ))
In 1866 Von der Heydt had boldly taken the
helm of the tempest-tossed financial state bark, and
steered it brilliantly through the storms and rocks
and shoals and quicksands of these most critical
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New German Empire. 287
times to the secure harbour of success. But ad-
Tancing age and infirmitiea had Hince then somewhat
dimmed the cleiu: sight of the experienced old
helmsman, and his hand retained no longer the
same firm grasp upon the tiller as of old.
But as has always been Prussia's good fortune,
uno avulso, iion deficit alter. At the perilous junc-
ture, in the faU of the year 1869, another still
greater financier was ready to take the helm of the
exchequer from Heydt'a relaxing grasp.
Otto von Camphausen was bom on the 21st of
October, 1812, at Hiinshoven, in the district of Aix-
la Chapelle. As his family ranked among the
wealthiest people in Rhinelanu, he could follow the
bent of his own inclination in the choice of his
future career in life. Two elder brothers of his
having taken to mercantile and financial pursuits,
and founded in 1825 a great banking business at
Cologne, under the style of A, and L. Camp-
hausen, young Otto elected to devote himself to the
study of law and of political economy in all its
branches, extending his course of reading also to
history, philosophy, and art.
Although the great wealth of his family might
have exempted him from all thought of ever having
to turn his university pursuit to practical account
for getting a living, he worked at his studies even
harder than many of the poorest students. The result
was that he passed a most brilliant examination.
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Men who have made the
He imide it speedily manifest also that he purposed
to devote the exercise of his talents to the service
of his country. Soon after passing his examina-
tion, in the autumn of 1834, he took his station
on the lowest rung of the bureaucratic ladder in
the general government department of the state
at Cologne, where he remained about three years.
His brother Ludolf, his senior by nearly ten
years, one of the chief partners in the great bank-
ing house of A. and L. Camphausen at Cologne,
induced Otto to turn his special attention to the
serious consideration of questions connected with
trade, commerce, and industry.
In 1837 young Otto Camphausen was transferred
to Magdeburg, where he remained nearly three years
in the capacity of assessor. He then entered the
Ministry of Finance for a short time, as assistant in
the treasury department. In December, 1840, he was
sent to the government board at Coblenz, whence
he was in February, 1842, transferred to Treves.
In 1844, he was raised to the rank of councillor, and
attached to the Ministry of Finance at Berlin. The
year after, in 1845, at the early age of thirty-three, he
was made Privy Councillor of Finance.
As he showed himself gifted with remarkably quick
comprehension of the most difficult and knotty
questions in the domain of political economy, and
with equally remarkable power of lucid exposition,
the draft of the important law respecting the in-
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New German Empire. 289
troduction of an income tax into the Prussian mon-
archy was confided to his care. Both the project of
law submitted by him to the first united Prussian
Diet of 1847, and the explanatory and elucidatory
memoir accompanying the draft, were perfect models
of cleaxnesa.
In 1848 his elder brother, Ludolf Camphausen,
stepped suddenly, per saltum, &om his banker's desk
at Cologne to the presidential chair of the Ministry
of State at Berlin, being called by King Frederick
William IV. to succeed Count Amim-Boitzenburg as
prime minister, on the 29th of March. Ludolf
availed himself largely of hia younger brother's
splendid business talents, and the two might, indeed,
have succeeded at the time in tiding over this
most critical epoch in the constitutional history of
the land, had they not bad to encounter the deep
insincerity of the monarch on the one side, and the
(very excusable) profound distrust of the Radical
and Progressist majority of the Assembly on the
other side.
Both Ludolf and Otto CMnphausen were moderate
Liberals — too honestly Liberal to suit the views of the
king and of the reactionary feudalist clique around him,
and too honestly Conservative for the impatience of
the men of progress. Less than three short months
sufficed to convince Ludolf Camphausen of this fact,
and already on the 20th of June he tendered bis
resignation to the king.
VOL. II. 5r.,..:ib;,Googk'
Men who have made the
One month after, at the end of July, 1 848, Ludolf
Camphausen was sent as Prussian representative to
the new German central power at Frankfort-on-the-
Main. Here he remained till April, 1849, when
he finally reeigned, and went back to his banking
business at Cologne, a wiser and a sadder man,
thoroughly disenchanted of the aUunng illusions of
power and office.
Otto Camphausen was a member of the Second
Prussian Chamber from 1849 to 1852. He was also
elected to the Erfurt Parliament in 1-850. He dis-
tinguished himself greatly as reporter on financial
and politico-economical questions, A moderate Liberal
in politics, he kept also in his views and opinions on
trade and commerce the right middle between the
two extremes of prohibitive protection and absolute
and unrestricted firee trade.
In 1854 Otto Camphausen exchanged the active
state service for the quasi-independent, highly im-
portant, and influential position of president of the
SeehandluDg, or institute of maritime commerce, in
which he succeeded Baron Kother, late minister of
state.
A bachelor, and possessor of a very laige private
fortune, not to mention the rich emoluments of his
high office, President Camphausen could now freely
indulge in the gratification of his social and artistic
tastes, and also in the exercise of a wise and
truly benevolent philanthropy, devoting laige sunis
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New Gei-man Empire.
annuaUy to the encouragement of literature and art,
and to the support of charitable institutions.
But in the fall of 1869 he had to quit this happy,
easy life at the call of duty. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Baron von der Heydt, had failed to
grapple successfully with the financial embarrass-
ments of the state treasury, and had thereupon ten-
dered his resignation. Bismarck asked Camphausen
to take the vacant seat in the Prussian cabinet
A few days after bis installation in office, the new
Chancellor of the Exchequer appeared before the
Second Chamber with the welcome announcement
that he withdrew his predecessor's proposal of an
increase of the direct taxes, deeming it the more
expedient course to cover the deficit of £800,000
out of the fund annually devoted to the reduction
of the national debt
He made a provisional declaration on this occaBion,
that, in his opinion, a wise financial policy should
strive to give the government of the state a wider
latitude of action in its measures and operations
for the reduction of the national debt. He could
not see the wisdom of paying off annually some
£1,200,000 to £1,500,000, at the very time when
the necessities of the state might actually require the
raising of new loans, most likely upon more onerous
terms than those of the existing old debt. The
state should, on the contrary, have the free choice
of devoting in good years larger, in bad years smaller
"2 , ^..Googk-
292 Men who have made the
soma, even down to nothing, to the reduction of the
debt. The rights and privileges of the state creditors
need not be infringed upon in this proceeding.
A few days after, at the sitting of the 4th of Novem-
ber, 1869, the minister further illustrated his views
upon this highly import;ant question. He explained
how the creditors of the state might, by the oflFer
of a premium, be easily prevailed upon to consent
to the conversion of the whole of the old 4^ per cent,
and 4 per cent, state debt of the old provinces of
Prussia into a consolidated funded debt paying
the holders 4^ per cent, interest per annum. This
would leave Uie state at full hberty to devote
any available funds to the purchase of consols,
thereby reducing the national debt in the simplest
manner, whilst it would free the government from
the onerous obligation of paying back a stipulated
fixed sum every year. In this srase Camphausen
drew up a series of resolutions, which the Parliament
subsequently adopted. So soon as he had thus
freedom of action given him, he set vigorously and
skilfully to work, and speedily efiected the proposed
conversion and funding of the debt with brilliant
success.
Camphausen's administration of the finances of
the country was equally successful in all other
respects. In the most important question of the
revenue, the Prussian Chancellor of the Exchequer
advocates the healthy development of the system
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New German Empire. 293
of indirect taxation, and he is the most uncom-
promising opponent of all attacks levelled against
the fundamental principles of that system.
He is also an advocate of a moderate increase of
the tax upon coffee and similar articles of con-
sumption which cannot properly be regarded in
the light of indispensable necessaries of life. On
the other hand he would free all raw materials, &c.,
required for the purposes of industry as much as
possible from the trammels of taxation.
Camphausen's management of the Prussian ex-
chequer has been most brilliantly successful ever
since he came into office. In 1870, more especially,
he repeated, more grandly still, Heydt's great
achievement of 1866, by his financial skill and
wise statesmanship enabling the treasury to bear
without embarrassment the immense burden of the
war. Since then he has made his appearance before
the Prussian Parliament year after year with a
glorious budget showing a large surplus, in lieu
of the sad deficits of old.
Camphausen is also one of the leading Prussian
members of the German Federal Council, and Vice-
President of the Prussian ministry, and he may be
said to be practically one of the Vice-Chancellors
of the German empire, Delbrlick being the other. As
a signal mark of his high consideration, the emperor
has bestowed upon him the Order of the Eed Eagle
of the first class.
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Men who have made the
BISMARCK'S STAFF.
In his titanic task of reconstructing the political system
of Prussia and Germany — and of Europe — Bismarck
has been most efficiently seconded throughout by a body
of able men, such as it has perhaps never before in
the world's history been the good fortune of empire
or kingdom to possess for state servants, conjointly at
one and the same period of time.
Among the moat eminent of this body, which may
truly le called the staff of the great leader Bismarck,
rank Bulow, Thile, Abeken, iE^di, the two Philips-
boms, Keudell, Hatzfeld, MicbaeUs, and, most es-
pecially, Delbrtack and Lothor Bucher. All these
and many more of the same exalted order of intellect
have largely shared in the making of the new German
empire. Brief memoirs of the two last named, by
w ay of general illustration of the class, may there-
fore well be permitted to find a small comer here.
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New German Empire.
XXI.
PRESIDENT DELBRUCK.
"Dee inneten GefiigeB Soon,
£ia (reaer, staikei Atbeitsheld,
Ob anoh von Beinem rtiUen lima
Man wenig hdrt nor in der Wolf
(Which may be briefly parapbiaaed : — The " Roon " of the em-
pire's innei Btractnie ; a valioDt, indefatigable worker, albeit
the trarapet of fbme may not loudly sound the praiees of hia
rilent BchJOTements.)
Maetin Fbederick Rudolf Delbeuck, now Prusrian
minister of state, and President of the Gemian
Imperial Chancellery Office, was born in Berlin in
1817. His father, John Frederick Gottlob (i.e.
Praise God) DelbrUck, who died in 1830, at Zeitz,
as pastcHT and Buperintendent, had been for nine years,
from 1800 to 1809, tutor to the two eldest princes
of' the royal house of Prussia, the Crown Prince,
afterwards King Frederick William IV., and Prince
William, the present German emperor. The two
princes always bore their first teacher in grateful
remembrance, bcBtowing many signal favours upon
the son.
Young DelbrUck lost his mother when he was
barely eix, and his father when he had only just
attained the age of thirteen. Fortunately, Pastor
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Men who have made the
DelbrUck, ere he died, had himself thoroughly-
grounded his son in all the branches of a sound
practical preparatory education, so that the boy of
thirteen was a marvel of solid learning and extensive
knowledge.
After attending the excellent gymnasium of Halle
for about three years longer, young Delbriick, at the
exceptionally early age of scarce sixteen, entered upon
the study of law and political economy, first at Bonn,
then at Gottingen, and lastly at Berlin, where he also
served his year as a volunteer in the army, along
with his most intimate Mend, young Fhilipsborn,
who was afterwards for many years Postmaster
General of Prussia, until he was at length succeeded,
some four years ago, by Stephen, the actual Post-
master-General of the German empire.
At the age of twenty, DelbrUck passed his first
law examination, when he was attached as auscultator
(the initiatory step on the law-ladder in the Prussian
state service) to the county and city court of Halle.
Two years after, in 1839, he was transferred to the
administrative branch, and sent to Mersebuig, where
he remained two years, working his hardest to acquire
a thorough practical mastery of the business and
routine in every department of the administration
accessible to the ardent young ofGcial, and adding
largely to his store of poUtical, economic, and
financial knowledge.
One of the most gratifying results of his ardent
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Neva German Empire.
and intelligeiit labour at this important period of his
life was that, when he presented himself, in 1842, to
paas the second, higher state examination, he both
surprised and enchanted his examineis, as much by
his manifest sagacity and penetration, as by the
extent and sotmdness of his lore, more eapeciaUy in
the vast domain of political economy.
The first consequence of his brilliant success was
his immediate transfer firom his subordinate position
at Merseburg to a much more important office in
the general revenue department of the Ministry of
Finance at Berlin. Here he had the good fortune
to find himself placed under the immediate guidance
and tuition of one of the soundest administrative
officials in the Prussian service, Privy-Councillor
KUhne, whom be took for his model in his own
official career.
A year after, in 1843, Delbrilck was promoted to a
higher position in another branch of the exchequer —
the section for trade and commerce, to wit — which
was then presided over by Privy-Councillor Beuth,
another great administrator of the time, and the actual
founder of the commercial policy of Prussia. Beuth
was a man of singularly wide, liberal, and advanced
views in political economy, who, although himself too
much trammelled and confined then by the old pig-
tail element rampant under the feeble-minded King
Frederick William IV. to give full practical expres-
sion and effect to his own enlightened conceptions,
,_ ibyGoogle
Men who have made the
yet did implant in the mind of his favourite pupil and
follower, Delbriick, tbe ae^ which haa bome such
excellent &uit since, in giving freedom of expansion
and motion to trade and industry in Germany.
In 1844 DelbrUck was transferred to the new Board
of Trade, then first constituted in Prussia under the
direction of Privy-Counciller Ronne, another man of
liberal views and high administrative capacity.
Four years after, in March, 1848, Delbriick, though
only thirtynane years old then, was appointed a
ministerial director in the Camphausen ministry, and,
after the retirement of the latter, chief of the newly-
created Ministry of Commerce, with the rank and title
of an actual privy superior councillor of government —
a splendid position to be achieved by one compara-
tively 80 young, and after only eleven years of office,
and certainly one of the rarest instances on record of
most exceptionedly rapid promotion in the Prussian
state service.
Although still sadly fettered and restrained in his
freedom of action by the unpropitioos conditions of
the heavy times through which Prussia was then
passing, Delbriick, in his new, comparatively inde-
pendent, and highly influential position, strove, not-
withstanding, to the best of his ability and power, and
with marked success, to give to the commercial policy
of Prussia, confided to his guidance, the impulse of
his own enlightened views and liberal aspirations.
In 1851 the clouds of a great peril were gathering
L:,,-,.,dbyG00glc
New German Empire.
over Prussia. Austria, not satisfied with having im-
posed upon her hated rival the moral degradation of
OlmUtz, sought also to inflict upon the PniBsiau
exchequer a heavy material loss.
The Austrian minister, Bruck, suddenly proposed
the acceesioD of the entire Austrian monarchy to the
German Customs Union (ZoUverein), of which Prussia
was the ostensible head and leader. Now, the Austrian
crown lands might safely be calculated to consume a
very small proportion only of goods liable to duly,
whilst the total proceeds of the duties raised in all
the lands of the Union were, according to this pretty
Austrian scheme, to be distributed among the
members of the Union in proportion to the number
of inhabitants in the several countries — which of
course would give Austria just the one clear half of
the total revenue I
Even leaving out of consideration the enormous
accession of political power Austria must necessarily
derive from being placed at the head of a customs
association numbering some 70,000,000 souls, it was
not likely that Prussia, even under the baneful
influences then swaying her destiny, should consent
to submit quietly to the heavy sacrifice of money
involved in the proposal
So Delbrlick found it comparatively easy to decline
the proferred honour of Austria's accession to the
Zollverein. And, most likely, Bruck bad never even
dreamt of a possible success of his arro^nnt scheme
ii.;,Googlc
300 Men who have Tnade the
but had Bimply put it forward by way of intro-
ductioD to a much more msidious and dangerous
proposal which followed soon after— the oflFer, to wit,
of a treaty of commerce with Prussia and the
Zollverein. The offer was closed simply with the
trifling proviso that the ZoUverein should renounce
the right of making alterations in the tariff without
the express consent and sanction of Austria !
As the South German states of the Zollverein had
been gained over to Austria's views, DelbrUck found
himself placed in a most ticklish position. However,
he skilfully temporized to gain a Httle time, which
he turned to the best account by opening secret
negotiations with the Steuerverein, a Customs Union
then existiog between Hanover, Oldenburg, and Lippe,
which lay just Uke a wedge between the eastern and
western provinces of Prussia.
His untiring energy and consummate skill carried
the day, and in September, 1851, Hanover, Olden-
burg, and Lippe acceded to the Prussian ZoUverein.
The territorial extension of the Union thus gained in
the north left it no longer a matter of primary and
(Kiramount importance to retain the South German
states d, tout prix, and Prussia saw herself accord-
ingly placed in a position to leave to the recalcitrants
the alternative of consenting to the renewal of the
treaty with her, or submitting to be cut off entirely
from the sea-shore.
They preferred, of course, to do the former, and
,_,:! by Google
New German Empire,
DelbrUck had the satisfaction of concluding at Berlin,
on the 4th of April, 1853, a new treaty for twelve
years embracing all the states of the Union.
Soon after this great achievement, DelbrUck, moving
resolutely onward in the path of commercial reform
and progress, concluded a treaty of commerce with
France, which placed the Zollverein on the same trade
footing in that country as England and Belgium.
In 1862 the renewed machinations and intrigues
of Austria again gravely imperilled the continued
existence of the Prussian Zollverein.
On the 29th of March of that year DelbrUck had
signed the draft of a new commercial treaty with
France, and Austria was now using her most malig-
nant efforts to procure the rejection of this treaty
by the South German states, and the ultimate
secession of the latter from the Prussian Customs
Union. Misled by Austria's evil counsels, and mis-
guided in a great measure by their blind political
enmity to the great North German kingdom, the
South German states showed themselves more than
half disposed to break up the Union, to the sa<;ri6ce
even of their own interests.
But DelbrUck, finding himself now most efficiently
supported and upheld in his commercial policy by the
new Prussian premier, Bismarck, who had definitively
taken the helm of the state on the 9th of October,
1862, battled vigorously and victoriously against the
crafty machinations of Austria, and the patent ill-will
, I by Google
302 Men who have made the
of the South German states. In his efforts to over-
come the malevolent opposition of these latter, he
received most valuable aid at the bands of tbe late
King John of Saxony, who, disregarding alike the
flolicltations and promptings of the pro-Austrian
court and camarilla petticoat clique around him, and
the wily counsels of Beust, declared for the renewal of
the Prusaiaji Customs Union and the ratification of
the new Franco-Prussian treaty of commerce.
So Delbriick in the end victoriously overcame all
obstacles thrown in the way of the ratification of the
treaty by all the states of the Union, which was ac-
complished on the 12th of October, 1864.
In the course of tbe same year he negotiated a
treaty of commerce with Austria, and three years
later, after successful negotiations with England and
Belgium, he concluded a treaty of commerce with
Italy, on the Slst of August, 1865.
But, whilst thus brilliantly successful in his efforts
to consolidate the Zollverein, and to improve its
external relations, DelbrUck found that he could
make, but scant progress in another at least equally
important direction — to wit, the improvement of the
inner rules and regulations, and the tariff arrange-
ments of tbe Union, as he bad constantly and in-
variably to meet on this field the most' stubborn
opposition on the part of the ministers of the several
governments constituting the Union, who were full
of individual whims and prejudices in commercial
,.,-ibyGooglc
New German Empire. 303
and finaocial matters and politico-economic questions,
and most uncompromising and unyielding in the
assertion of their own opinions.
However, when the great events of 1866 had in-
calculably increased the power and influence of
Prussia, Delbrlick at once seized the favourable
opportunity to strengthen his own hands in the coun-
cils of the Union, by proposing to summon a Customs
Parliament, to give the people in the several states
an equal share with their governments in the
deliberations and resolutions of the general council.
Delbriick's demand was acceded to by the other
members of the Union, and a new treaty was con-
cluded at Berlin on the 8th of July, 1867, which
vested the direction of the affairs of the Zollverein
jointly in the Customs Federal Council and the
Customs Parliament.
The beneficial results of this great step in advance
soon became manifest in more than one direction.
Delbrlick, powerfully supported now by the Cus-
toms Parliament, naturally so much better able than
a conclave of narrow-viewed, prerjudiced officials could
possibly be expected to be to justly appreciate the
practical chiefs wise measures, found it no longer
impracticable to give the fullest effect to his own
enlightened views and aspirations.
On the 11th of August, 1867, Delbrtick was named
President of the Chancellery Office of the North Ger-
man Confederation. This office was created to conduct
L:,,-,.,dbyG00glc
304 Men who have made tlie
the affaira of the new North German Confederation
under the supreme guidance of the Federal chancellor,
who took upon himself the sole and undivided
peaponsibility of the office.
Bismarck, who has barely ever yet blundered in
the choice of the fittest instruments for his purpose
(not even excepting Amim, who, moreover, was not
his own uncontrolled choice), hit upon DelbrUck as
the best man for the new office, and the event
has since amply proved the sagacity of the selec-
tion. DelbrUck's advanced Liberd views on political
and economic questions, his enlightened mind and
clear, practical intellect, hia vast knowledge and
extensive acquirements, his immense business ca-
pacity and marvellous power of working, found the
freest scope now for the most beneficial exercise.
DelbrUck, in his capacity as Chief of the Federal
ChanceUery, had to act also as the representative of
the chancellor at the Diet and in the ministerial
cabinet, and in the discussion and determination of
all questions relating to the chancellor'a German
policy and the promotion of the chancellor's own
views. Indeed, President DelbrUck, who was named
also Prussian minister of state, to enable him to
maintain undisturbed the indispensable harmonious
action between the Federal and the Prussian govern-
ment, might well be called Bismarck's own special
minister.
In this highly important position, DelbrUck
L,,,.,dbyG00g|.C
New German Empire.
speedily found the welcome opportunity also of dis-
playing another of his great statesmanlike qualities ;
he revealed himself as an accomplished parliamentary
speaker and excellent debater. There is no dazzUng
ornamentation, no filagree work, about his speeches
in Parliament ; they always go straight to the point,
as they are succinct, dear expositions of what the
speaker has to say and intends to convey to the
hearer's mind and understanding.
Among Delbrilck's most brilliant oratorical suc-
cesses may be mentioned, more particularly, the great
speech dehvered by him on the 5th of December,
1870, in which he reported on the treaties concerning
the accession of the South German states to the
Federation, lucidly explaining the origin and nature
of these treaties, and expressing hia fervent hope to
see accomplished at length the political union of the
great German Fatherland
Upon the establishment of the new German empire,
DelbrUck at once assumed the function of President
of the new Imperial Chancellery office, which he
retains to the present day.
"When, in the spring of 1871, the great dotation
question was submitted to the new German Parliament,
the House voted an amendment, proposed by the com-
mittee with the assent of the government, sanctioning
the grant of dotations also to German statesmen who
had prominently contributed to the creation of the
new empire. It was universally felt at the time that
roi. II. I Google
Men who have made the
DelbrUck's name ought to stand 6r8t and foremost
on the list.
Field -Marshal Bliicher reposed the most unbounded
confidence in his chief of the staif, General Gneisenau,
and had the most implicit faith ia his universal know-
ledge and the infinite versatility of his talents. It
is said that when the university of Oxford, on the
occasion of BlUcher's visit to England, presented to
him the doctorate of laws, tlie old marshal, in whose
mind all doctors were indissolubly connected with
physic, would only consent to accept the proffered
honour on condition that Qneisenau should be ap-
pointed his dispensing apothecary. The good old
man, who was conscientious in his way, and naturally
misdoubted his own skill in the leech line, trusted
that Gneisenau would bafely see him through all
difficulties that might attend the exercise of the new
profession so unexpectedly thrust upon him.
Bismarck is in the habit of calling Delbrilck his
"Gneisenau." It would certainly be impossible to
show a higher appreciation of the great president
and his eminent servicea
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New German Empire.
xxa
LOTHAR BUCHBR.
LoTHAR BccHER, Actual Privy Councillor of Lega-
tion, and Councillor Reporter in the Prussian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, is universally and rightly believed
to be Bismarck's moat intimate and most trusted
adviser. He is a man of vast capacity and extensive
acquirements, and, next to Delbrtick, the hardest
worker in Germany.
Lothar Bucher was bom on the 25th of October,
1817, at Neustettin, where his father was professor at
the Hedwig gymnasium. In 1821, Professor Bucher
was transferred to the gymnasium at Koslin, in
Pomerania, where his son received accordingly his
preparatory education. Gifted with quick appre-
hension and a retentive memory, the boy distin-
guished himself greatly at school, and advanced rapidly
through the several classes and forms of the gym-
nasium, until, at the age of eighteen, in 1835, he
passed a brilliant examination of fitness for higher
university studies.
He was sent to Berlin, where he devoted himself to
the very hardest and most persevering study of the
law, cultivating also, with ardent zeal, the philosophy
of Hegel.
XD8lizedbyGOOgle
Men who have made the
In the autumn of 1838 he passed his first law ex-
amination, and was soon after appointed auscultator
at the upper provincial court at Koslin. Some five
years after, he was appointed to an assessorship,
and, about midsummer 1843 he was sent to Stolp,
where he was attached to the provincial and city
court, and had also intrusted to him the adminis-
tration of justice in several so-called patrimonial
courts, or manor courts.
In the latter capacity, more especially, he obtained
a clear insight into the actual condition of the farmers,
the peasantry, and the cultivators of the soil, and
the many glaring abuses which the old feudal system
still flourishing there made the unhappy land under
its sway endure. Bucher, a man of vast, kindly
sympathies, soon took a generous dislike to the
objectionable state of things he found existing in
his justiciary district ; so he naturally became a re-
former.
A small provincial town in Pomerania is not
exactly the place where one may expect to find great
literary and scientific treasures and resources. Now,
there are some exceptionally rich intellectual natures
that find it next to impossible to give their faculties
even an instant's absolute repose. There is a noble
lord living now, an ex-chancellor, one of England's
most eminent legislators, and one of the kindliest and
best of men, who could not abstain &om active
mental work even during the few brief minutes of
New Oerman Empire.
his daily shaving, hut must turn them to profitable
accouBt by committing to memory, among other
things, the whole of Milton's immortal epic.
Bncher belongs to the same high category of men.
With his immense capacity for work and his insa-
tiable craving for intellectual occupation, he, hap-
pening to come across " Rottcck and Welcker's State
Lexicon," took the ciirious notion into his head to
go through the bulky work from the first line to
the last.
The radical constitutionalism and the constitutional
radicalism of thia famous production of the two
Liberal professors exercised a decisive influence upon
his mind, made specially receptive for this kind of
teaching by the vety large dose of Hegelian philo-
sophy which had been administered to it whilst
Bucher was pursuing his studies at the university
of Berlin. His political ideas were thus naturally
directed into an ultra-radical channel
No wonder then that when, in the spring of 1848,
the town and district of Stolp elected him their
representative at the new National Assembly at
Berlin, he should take at once a leading position
among the most advanced radical reformers. In
November, 1848, he joined in the revolutionary re-
fusal of the Assembly to grant the crown the right
of levying taxes.
After the dissolution of the National Assembly,
Bucher was, in the spring of 1849, elected by his
: Google
310 Men v>ho have made the
former constitueats a member of the Second Prussian
Chamber. Here he added to his old sins and offences
against the now all-powerful royal and feudalist re-
actionary party, his stinging report on the motion
declaring illegal the royal decree which placed Berlin
in a state of siege.
In 1 850 the reaction thought fit to arraign Bucher
and some forty other leaders in the old tax-refusal
movement of November, 1848, before the public
tribunals. Bucher was aware that he was the prin-
cipal accused in the matter, the other forty being
drawn in simply for decency's sake, that the proceed-
ing might not look too monstrous. He also knew
that at that particular juncture, and under the pecu-
liar circumstances of the case, there was really no
chance of an acquittal, and that his state career in
Prussia might fairly be considered at an end, even
should he abide the almost certain condemnation, and
submit to his sentence without murmuring.
He resolved, therefore, to withdraw himself from
the power of his enemies. Whibt the jury empanelled
to try him had retired to deliberate upon their ver-
dict, he cunningly gave the police oflScer set to guard
him the slip, and made his escape to England.
It would seem to have been his intention at first
to try for a position at the English bar. A brief
sojourn in London sufficed to open his eyes to the
fact, that the realization of this intention would talte
him long years. So, as he had to work for his living.
New German Empire.
he preferred becoming a member of the fourth estate.
For some ten years he supplied certain leading news-
papers in Germany with a series of brilliant articles.
His contributions to the Berlin National Zeitung,
more especially, attracted general attention through the
soundness of the information given in them as much
as through the lucid style in which they were written.
But Bucher was always a man of very clear mind.
In London he bad most excellent opportunities
afforded him of becoming intimately acquainted with
the history of the British constitution, and of study-
ing the apparently so complicated, yet in reality so
beautifully simple, wheelwoik of that marvellous
growth and maturation of ages. His eyes soon
opened to the real value of the doctrines imbibed
by him out of the pages of Rotteck and Welcker,
and conned over in his former intercourse with the
ultra radicals of the whilom famous National Assem-
bly at Berlin.
Bucher was also always a most sincere man. It
would have been impossible for him to conceal the
gradual change in his political views from the Ger-
man papers to whom he was sending contributions
&om London. This gave rise to dissensions between
him and these journals, and led, among other things,
to a long-protracted polemical discussion between
him and the Berlin National Zeitung, then the
uncompromising organ of the most advanced Liberal
section in politics and political economy in Prussia.
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Men who have made the
The quarrel was slightly envenomed by certain here-
tical deviations of Bucher'a from his former pro-
fessions of pure faith in the doctrines of absolute
free trade.
Still, these polemics notwithstanding, Bucher con-
tinued to contxibute articles to most of the papers
with which he was connected at this time. In 1856
Bucher went to Paris, where he remained till the
close of the first Paris International Exhibition, as
reporter and correspondent for several leading papers
in Germany.
During his residence in London, Bucher had come
into contact with a multitude of Englishmen ; also with
a great many political refugees from other countries
than Germany. He had intimately known Joseph
Mazzini, Ledru Rollin, Kossuth, Louis Blanc, Gar-
rido, and many other non-German exiles from the
land of their birth, and he found the whole batch of
them intensely national, and every one of them most
warmly enthusiastic for the special people to whom he
happened to belong. The German refugees alone
seemed to constitute an exception from this general
rule of particularism, and to wish to embrace the
whole world within the wide range and reach of their
universal sympathies.
From his experience of men and things in this line,
clear-headed Lothar Bucher had already in London
drawn the great lesson for himself that it behoves a
sensible practical man to restrict bis patriotic mani-
New German Empire. 313
festations and aspirations in the first place rather to
his own particiil^ country and nation, and more
especially not to indulge overmuch in the bubble
of Bo-called "nationalitiea." His Paris experience
confirmed him thoroughly in his ■ new opinion on
this matter. No wonder, then, that he now dropped
absolutely the hollow, sentimental, and thoroughly
anti-historic theories anent the rights of every small
nation, race, and tribe, to keep up an arbitrary inde-
pendent existence within the great conglomeration
to which it might happen to belong.
This extraordinary doctrine was much advocated
at the time in Germany. Bucher boldly maintained,
on the contrary, that the great German people, who
had actually bestowed upon certain alien races and
tribes settled in Germany all the blessings of civili-
zation enjoyed by them, had also an indefeasible
right to exert a preponderating political influence
over them.
Now this doctrine of Bucher's went right against
the grain of the German Liberals, and Bucher, who
had meanwhile returned to Berlin in consequence of
the general amnesty proclaimed by King William,
foimd himself very soon at loggerheads with his
former political associates and friends.
Still he continued hia contributions to the National .
Zeitung for about a twelvemonth longer, after which
he tried to obtain employment in the Berlin Tde-
graph administration. . „ ,
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314 Men wlio Imve made the
CoDBcious of the extent and soundness of bia legal
attainments, he made up hia mind at last to apply for
his reinstatement into the law service of the state,
his intention being at the time to qualify himself for
the position of a barrister or pleader before the courts
of law.
A friend of Lothar Bucher's undertook to sound
Bismarck about this. Now the great minister had
been peeuliaily struck with the sound sense and
marvellous logic of Bucher's articles, more especially
in the National Zeitung. He, with his sharp sight
and clear insight, reckoned up the man who had
penned these articles, and divined the great spirit
in him, kindred to his own.
So he sent word to Lothar Bucher that, if he
would consent to pass a period of probation in the
service of the Foreign Office, it was his (Bismarck's)
opinion that he would do much better there than
in the law career,
Bucher eagerly accepted the opening thus offered
to him, and entered the Foreign Office in December,
18C4. Of course, be very soon made his mark.
A man of such transcendent abilities, and such
enormous working capacity, could not possibly have
failed in securing a firm footing within the briefest
possible period of time. The year after, already^
in 1865, he was raised to the rank of Councillor
of Legation, and definitively appointed to a high
position in the Forei^ Office.
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Neva German Smjnre. 315
In December, 1866, he acted as recorder of
the minutes at the conference of the plenipoten-
tiaries charged to draw up the coustitution of the
North German Federation; and in 1867 he was
appointed Actual Privy Councillor of Legation and
Councillor Reporter in the Ministry of Foreign
AfiFairs — which may fairly be iustanced as an
almost unheard-of rapidity of promotion in one of
the most difficult departments of the state service
in Prussia.
Bismarck, who by this time fully knew the im-
mense value of such a man as Lothar Bucher, made
it a point to have the brilliant councillor always
as much as possible in his own immediate vicinity.
Thus, in 1869, Lothar Bucher was fuU five months
with Bismarck at Varzin, and in 1870 he was again
at Varzin, with the chancellor, from May up to the
outbreak of the war with France, on both occa-
sions taking a vast amount of hard work oflf the
chancellor's shoulders.
When Bismarek left for France, Bucher remained
behind, intrusted with the management of the most
intimate affairs of the Foreign Office. But even
in September already, when Councillor Abeken was
seized with his fatal illness, Bismarck sent for
Bucher to replace this ti-usty counsellor and aid
near his person.
Bucher joined the Chancellor of the North Ger-
man Confederation at Ferriferes, and remained thence-
• . Coo
316 Men vAo have made the
forward with him np to the concluBion of peace,
giving the chancellor the most valuable aid of his
brilliant talenta, and im marvellously aound poli-
tical knowledge and clear insight into the innermost
nature of affairs.
In March, 1871, again, Lothar Bucher attended
Bismarck at the final conference of Frankfort-on-
the-Main, which terminated so smoothly in the
conclusion of the definitive peace between Germany
and France on the 10th of May, 1871.
Three years and a half have passed since then,
and Lothar Bucher still retains his position and
influence with the great chancellor. Strange to
say, perhaps, these two men, starting from diame-
trically opposite extremes in political life, seem to
have met exactly half-way on their course, Bis-
marck having dropped by the way all bis spurious,
declamatory ultra -royaUsm and Junkerdom, and
Lothar Bucher having rid himself of the fearful
encumbrance of Hegel, Rotteck, and Welcker, and
of all the other ultra-radical impediments of his
hot youth.
There are but too many political pretenders in
Germany coveting the iuheritance of the great Bis-
marck. Most of these ambitious aspirants are the
veriest pigmies — very clever men, no doubt — aye,
almost as clever as Harry Amim ; for all that,
lacking the least approach to the great chancellor's
genius. Lothar Bucher has more of Bismarck in
U,:,-i:PdbyG00gle
New Oerman Empire. 317
his composition than all the Savignys and Amims,
and the other still smaller cattle that would follow
in their wake, and whom the eminent Berlin corre-
spondents of certain London papers are so foolishly
bent upon parading daily in their Berlin letters.
by Google
Men who have niade the
SPECIAL ARMS AND VICTUALLING DEPART-
MENTS.
" Die Kruppiache Kauone,
Des Dreyse sein Gewehi,
Die waren gar oicht olioe.
Die Erbswtirat anch half sebr."
— Kotwjbkb's SoldaltnlUd.
(Rrupp's cannon and Dreyse'ii needle-gun were by no means nnim-
pnrtant adjuncts, and the pea-eaugage also contributed largely
lo the great eucceu.)
In all ware, from the earliest antiquity, the quality of
the weapons of the combatants has formed a most
importiiDt item of consideration in the calculation
of the chances of success. In modem warfare, when
anns of precision play so preponderating a part, the
condition of the general and special armaments of
the troops must necessarily fall with double weight
into the scale.
The living machines of war that had come forth from
the skilful hands of the Roons, the Albrechts, the
New German Empire.
HindersiDS, the HoUebeus, aud mimy otliera of the
same high capacity of organization, were unquestion-
ably of the most admirable make and the follest
efficiency. Yet, suppose they had had to take the
field with the old percussion gun and the venerable
smooth-bore, njuzzlo-loading, bronze cannon of the
past, surely their chances of success would have been
much less promising than the perfection of their
armament actually made them.
The ingenious inventors and makers of this arma-
ment may therefore weU be permitted to bring up
the rear here, at least, of the German notabilities
of the present day.
John Nicholas Dkeyse was born on the 20th
of November, 1787, at Sommerda, a small township
in the Erfurt district His father, John Christian
Dreyse, was a master locksmith, pretty well to do for
a man in his position. From his seventh to his
fourteenth year Nicholas went to the city school
of Sommerda, where he received a sound primary
education. Being naturally fond of mechanics, he
took to his father's trade from choice. At the age
of fourteen he became an apprentice in his father's
workshop.
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Men who have made the
He had soon completely mastered the elements of
the craft, and ^reeably surprised his father by his
manual dexterity, as weU as by the happy ingenuity
of his improvements in locks and other articles in
his line of business.
When his apprenticeship was over, young Nicholas,
after the universal manner of German workmen of
the period, went forth to wander into the world
in search of work, and to acquire a more extensive
and perfect knowledge of his craft This was in
1806.
On lus wanderings he happened to come upon the
great slaughter field of Jena, on the 15th of October,
the very day after the battle which had laid Prussia
in the dust. He was then a youth of nineteen. The
awful sight of heaps of dead bodies all around made
a very powerful and most sad impression upon his
young mind, the sadder, as he was a youth of ardent
patriotism. He took up from the ground a Prussian
gun, of the venerable old Brown Bess type, and
examined it with the eye of a skilful mechanist.
He found it sadly wanting in everything required to
constitute an effective arm. Whenever he related
the story afterwards, he used always to add that
this Prussian gun seemed to him at the time to have
been expressly made with a view of shooting
round the comer. It was the worst article of the
kind then in existence.
Here, on this field of death, the first thought came
,.,-ibyGooglc
A'iew German Empire.
into his mind, to improve the mechanism of the
Prussian fire-arms. Soon after, he had occasion to
see a French infantry gun of the so-caUed pattern
of 1779, which was then the most perfect of its
kind in the world.
He now worked at his trade for three years at
Altenburg, Dresden, and some other places in
Gfermany, striving more particularly, and whenever
the opportunity offered, to improve his knowledge
and skill in the construction of fire-arms. He was
always trying one improvement or other, but with
only indifferent success, as the French 1779 pattern
seemed to him then the most perfect model.
In 1809 he was at last enabled to gratify the
most ardent wish of his heart — to go to France,
which at the time enjoyed the deserved reputation
that the most ingenious and skilled locksmiths, and
the best makers of fire-arms in the world, were to be
found there.
Soon after his arrival in Paris he had the good
fortune to obtain employment in the famous gun-
factory of the Swiss officer Pauli, then under the
special patronage of the Emperor Napoleon I. Pauli
took a great liking to young Dreyse, whom he found
a most excellent craftsman and an indefatigable
worker. He confided to him that the Emperor had
asked him to try to construct a breech-loading gun.
This notion, which Napoleon might possibly have
taken from the toy-guns of children, or from having
VOL. II. .,,,,,.„,.,Goo8k-
322 Men who have made the
accidentally come across some of the breech-loading
cannons that would seem to have been in partial use
about the year 1770, flashed upon Dreyse's mind as a
complete revelation. He knew now at once where he
had to direct his attention first in bis intended con-
struction of an improved infantry gun.
Pauli succeeded, after infinite labour, in producing
a breech-loading gun, but of such complicated con
structioD that it required most skilful handling to
use it with proper efiect, and was entirely unsuited
to the common run of soldiera Napoleon was so
pleased, nevertheless, that he bestowed upon the
inventor a gift of 800?. and the Cross of the Legion
of Honour. However, Pauli felt so discouraged by
his comparative failure, that he gave up the breech-
loading notion altogether.
Not so Dreyse, who was of a most persevering turn
of mind. All the time he remained in France, up to
1814, he turned every spare hour to the best account
in thinking of what had now become the all-absorb-
ing object of his life — the construction of a simple
breech- loading gun that might be handled and used
effectively by any private soldier.
In 1814 he returned to Sommerda, to his father's
workshop.
In 1821 he married, and established soon after, in
partnership with a merchant of the name of Kronbie-
gel, a factory for the making of iron naUs, buttons,
and other articles in the so-called cold way, by
Netv German Empire.
machinery. After Kronbiegel's death, a Mr. Collen-
busch joined Dreyse in the business, which continues
in existence to the present day. Dreyse was the
first in Germany to produce these machine-made
articles.
Meanwhile the percussion-gun had been invented,
in 1815, in England, and the percussion-caps also,
though two Frenchmen, Pidat and Debonbert, have
since then successfully claimed the latter invention for
theirs. In 1822 the new invention found its way
into Germany, where extensive experiments were at
once instituted, more particularly in Prussia, with a
view to substitute the new percussion lock for the
old flint lock.
Dreyse naturally became at once one of the most
eager and persevering experimenters on this field. He
more especially brought all his technical knowledge
to hear upon the preparation of ignitmg or exploding
material for the discharge of percussion-guna Aided
by the chemical knowledge of a friend of hia, Baudius,
an apothecary in Sommerda, he succeeded in turning
fulminate of mercury to account for this purpose.
In 1824 he established a factory of percussion-caps
at Sommerda, in partnership with CoUenbusch. The
Prussian government granted the firm a patent for tie
new caps. In the same year Dreyse also obtained a
patent for his newly-invented " steam generator." For
this patent he was indebted chiefly to tiie patronage
of Privy Councillor Beuth.
Y 2 ,,,,_,.ib;.Googk'
Men who have made the
After this, Dreyse turned his particular attention
to devising the means of carrying into practical
effect an old favourite notion of his, which had for
its chief object to change the place of the igniting
or exploding process from the outer to the inner
part of the gun, and also the construction of a
cartridge that should contain within itself the whole
of the materials required for the charge of the gun.
After some three years' hard work, and many
bitter disappointments, he succeeded at last, in 1827,
in producing a percussion needle-gun — only a muzzle-
loader, however.
He sent models of his new invention to the
Prussian minister of war, who speedily informed
him that the weapon had been found unfit for
practical use in the army, and that he was at liberty
to dispose of it elsewhere. He thereupon sent models
to several other governments, also to the Austrian
minister of war — who sent it back with contemp-
tuous scorn, telling the presumptuous Prussian gun-
smith that there was no lack of clever men in
Austria I Had this conceited minister only been a
wise man in his generation, and had he accordingly
tried his hardest to secure the ingenious inventor
for Austria ! . . . many things might be different,
perhaps, now from what they are, and even the great
fact of the new German empire might still remain
8 bright dream in the pondering brains of German
patriots I
Digilized by Google
Hew Gervtan Empire.
Th* present Emperor of Germany, then Prince
William, happening to be at Weimar in 1829, sent
for Dreyse. The prince felt much interested in the
new invention, and induced the Pruasian miniater of
war to take the matter up anew.
From 1830 up to 1833, a series of experiments
were made with Dreyse's gun by a commission of
officers under the presidency of General Thiele and
Colonel Neumann, the results of which led to the
admission of Dreyse into the official service of the
state, with a sufficient subvention to enable the
man to devote himself entirely to the improvement
of his invention.
The year 1835 saw the birth of the first breech-
loading needle-gun. But, unhappily, Messrs. Hedtape
and Routine, if they have it not quite their own
way in Prussia as much as in certain other lands,
are yet not without most powerful influence whenever
they choose to indulge in their favourite practice of
throwing a wet blanket upon a new discovery or in-
vention beyond the very limited comprehension of their
own narrow brains. So it took the patient inventor
some five years longer, and all the benevolent exertions
in his favour of General Witzleben, Colonel Priem,
and some other distinguished officers, to obtain at
last the king's sanction for a final trial of the
efficiency of the new arm. The trial commission
was presided over by Prince Augustus of Prussia,
who, as well as most of the other general officen,
,d by Google
326 Men who Iiave made the
was firmly convinced in hia own mind that Dreyse's
gun woidd fail practically, as the cartridges mxist of
course explode of their own accord after the eighth
or tenth discharge of the gun. These learned gentle-
men were grievously disappointed. The new weapon
stood the test most briUiantly.
It was only after this great success, in 1840, that
King Frederick William IV, ordered 60,000 of Dreyse's
guns, granting the inventor at the same time sufficient
funds to establish a large needle-gun and ammunition
factory.
On the 15th of October, 1841, just thirty-five years
after the first idea had entered Dreyse's head to pro-
duce au efficient gun for the Prussian infantry, the
new factory entered upon active work.
Up to 1863 it had supplied 300,000 needle-guns
to the Prussian army.
In 1843 Nicholas Dreyae had conferred upon him
the Order of the Red Eagle of the fourth class ; in
1846 he was named a Councillor of Commission, and
decorated with the Red Eagle of the third class.
He persevenngly continued his experiments in
fire-arms, turning his attention successfully also to
improvements in rifled cannon. Even the most cur-
sory enumeration of his numerous inventions and
improvements in fire-arms must be omitted here for
want of space.
In 1864 the war in Schleswig-Holstein afforded
a grand opportunity for testing the excellence of
,_ ibyGoogle
New German Empire.
Dreyse's needle-gun. The new weapon stood the
test admirably. King William was delighted with
the result, and gratefully bestowed upon the ingeni-
ous inventor the Prussian Crown Order of the third
dass, and a patent of nobUity for himself and his
descendants.
The productive power of Dreyse's works at Som-
merda was considerably increased in the years
1864-65. In the latter year, more especially, the
number of hands employed reached the high figure
of 1,500.
Dreyse lived to witness the splendid success of
bis creation in the war of 1866. He died on
the 9th of December, 1867, in the eighty-first year
of his age. His gun-fiictory, and other works and
establishments at Sommerda, are now conducted by
his only son and heir, Francis, who had already
for long yeMa had the technical direction of the
works.
This gentleman, who was bom on the 2nd of
March, 1822, continues to conduct the paternal busi-
ness with considerable skill and talent.
Since the Franco-German War of 1870-71, the
needle-gun has been very considerably improved, as
the old pattern had been found inferior in efii-
ciency, range, and rapidity of firing to the French
chassepot-gun. After many and most varied ex-
periments, the supreme military authorities of the
German empire have now finally decided to supply
Digilized by Google
328 Men who have made the
the whole of the German army — with the excep-
tion of the Bavarians, who have a most excellent
weapon already in the Werder gun — with a gun
of a new pattern, made by a Wlirtemberg gun-
Bmith of the name of Mauser, who lives at Obem-
dorf. This new pattern is called the Mauser gun
or rifle. This Mauser gun is said to be in every
way vastly superior to the chaasepot
However, as the supply of so lai^e a number as
the arming of the immense German host requires muat
necessarily be a work of years, the old pattern
needle-gun has meanwhile been altered and improved,
to fit it for immediate service. This improved
needle-gun is also said by competent judges to be
superior to the chaseepot of the French infantry.
Lai^ numbers of the French ctassepots which
had fallen into the hands of the victors in the
late war, have also been converted for provisional
use in the German army. The carbine, for instance,
with which the light cavalry and a portion of the
lancers are armed now, is simply a shortened
chaasepot
XXIV.
.KRUPP-
Alfeed Keupp was born at Essen, in the district
of DUsseldorf, on the 12th of April, 1812. His
father, Frederick Krupp, was the same aa Sreyse's,
,.,-ibyGooglc
New German Empire.
a locksmith and worker in steel, in a email way.
This poor man had an inventive genius, overcast by
the sad fate of incessant failure in all his efTorts
to improve the quality of the steel used by him
for the manufacture of cutting instruments. He
died in 1827, not yet forty, leaving his business,
such as it was, to his son Alfred, then a boy of
under fifteen.
At the time . of Alfred's birth, Essen was a very
small place ; indeed, the entire estate of the old Stift
(Chapter) of Easen, covering an area of some sixty-
five to seventy English square nulea in extent, had
then ouly about 1 8,000 inhabitants at the moat.
Now the population haa multiplied sevenfold, and the
city of Essen is going on fast towards 60,000 souls I
This splendid development of the city and circle
of Essen may fairly be said to be, in a very great
measure at least, the resxdt and natural concomitant
of the extraordinary success of Alfred Krupp'a great
industrial undertaking there.
After the father's death the boy continued the
business, aided by two workmen only. But whilst
naught but failure had attended all Frederick Krupp's
most earnest eflforts, fortune smiled upon everything
the son touched. And so it has come to pass, in
the course of less than fifty years, that the humble
workshop, which may be seen on the premises to
the present day, has expanded into one of the most
gigantic establishments in the world, covering an
,.,-ibyGooglc
330 Men who have made the
area of more than an English square mile, and
occupying 12,000 workmen !
Alfred Krupp's is the largest steel-caating establish-
ment to be found anywhere. It numbers some 600
furnaces, and close upon 1,000 machines for the making
of tools and implements alone. There are nigh upon
a quarter of a million melting crucibles. Some 300
steam engines, from 1,000 horse-power down to 2
horse-power, and about 80 steam hammers, from
50 tons weight down to 2 cwt., are incessantly
at work. The daily consumption of coal exceeds
1,700 tons.
Articlea of cast steel are manufactured here of
every kind, size, and weight, to the total amount of
something like 80,000-100,000 tons a year.
The merest cursory description of such an establish-
ment as Krupp's is of course altogether out of tlie
question here ; nor can space be afiForded for the
slightest sketch of the man's career.
We must rest content, then, with merely stating
that Alfred Krupp is a man of high intelligence, vast
inventive genius, the most patient perseverance and
endurance, and extraordinary working powei-s. He
was the first to devise an efficient system of cast-
ing steel successfully in immense blocks and enor-
mous maases, and remains even to the present day
without a serious competitor in his line.
Alfred Krupp exhibited the first great cast-steel
block of his manufacture in 1851, at London. This
Lin.KibyGoogle
New German Empire. 331
block weighed 2^ tons — a weight unheard of before.
The largest block competing with Krupp's, which
was sent to the Eshibition by a Sheffield firm,
weighed only a ton. Eleven years after, in 1862,
Krupp sent a block of 25 tons weight to the London
Exhibition; and in 1867, he sent another to Paris,
weighing 40 tons. It is said that solid masses of
steel up to 200 tons weight and above can now
be cast at Essen 1
In 1847 Alfred Krupp first conceived the idea of
casting cannon of steel. In 1851 he sent the first
six-pounder cast in his factory to the great Exhibition
at London. The article was not perfect, however, as
it was cast in two piecea In 1854 the first trial was
made to teat the power of resistance of "Krupp's
infants." They stood even some of the most unfair
tests. Id 1856 Krupp overcame the last difficulties
in the way of producing steel breech-loaders cast in
a single piece.
His first customer for steel cannon was the Viceroy
of Egypt ; Prussia and Russia soon after followed
the example set them by the African ruler. Up to
1858, however, the business was rather slack, no
more than 100 pieces of ordnance altogether being
cast at the Essen works. During the seven years
following, Krupp furnished close upon 3,000 cast-steel
cannon of all sizes, some of them capable of throwing
projectiles of a quarter of a ton weight
In 1867 Krupp astonished the world by his giant
,_ ibyGoogIc
332 Men who have made the
cauDon exhibited at Paris, which was intended to
throw projectUes of half a ton weight, with a charge
of 1 cwt. of gunpowder.
Of late years the manufacture of cast-steel rifled
breech-loading ordnance at the Esnen establishment
has taken still greater expausion.
That Krupp's cauDou have vastly aided in achieving
the great Prussian and German victories in the field
is universally admitted. Their efficiency was bril-
liantly proved as early as 1864 in the Schleswig-
Holstein campaign.
However, Alfred Krupp is thoroughly cosmopolitan
and mercantile in the supply of these splendid engines
of war — perhaps even beyond what might properly
be deemed compatible with loyal allegiance to his
own country, for he freely furnishes the prospective
enemies of Germany with his rifled ordnance.
The King of Prussia has bestowed upon Krupp
the title of Privy Councillor of Commerce. He also
oflFered him a patent of nobility, which, however, the
stifl'-necked manufacturer declined accepting.
The Essen establishment pays in rates and taxes
something like £24,000 a year. In the early part of
the present year, Krupp wished to raise a loan of
£1,500,000. In a few days the subscriptions to this
loan exceeded £5,000,000 !
In conclusion, it remains now simply to briefly
note that singularly important article of food so
,_,:! by Google
New German Empire. 333
largely used by the German commissariat in the war
of 1870-71 — the pea-sausage, to wit, and its inge-
nious compounder.
XXV.
GRUNBERG.
That the purveying and victualling department
must always claim a paramount share of attention
and care on the part of the leaderR of an army in
the field, is so self-evident a proposition, that no proof
or argument need be adduced here in support of it
No apolc^ can be needed, then, for just tagging
to the memoirs of the inventor of the needle-gun and
the cast-steel rifled cannon, a passing mention of the
name of the man whose ingenuity and knowledge
as a cook devised the preparation of a savoury, nutri-
tious preserve for the German army in the field —
GrUnberg, a culinary artist of Berlin.
The pea-sausage, which he compounded, consists
of pea-flour, best beef-suet, bacon (two parts of lean
to one of fat), onions, salt, and spices. It is one of
the most nutritious articles of food. Properly made,
and fitted into paper cases specially prepared for the
purpose, it will keep unchanged for years in airy
places. For eating, it may either be cut into small
cakes, and boiled with water into soup, or it may be
boiled whole and eaten as a sausage.
Digilized by Google
334 Men who have made ike New German Empire.
The Praaaian government made the inventor,
Grunberg, a present of 10,000?., and had a manu-
factory of the article built at Berlin, at the expense
of the state. At first only about 14,000 lbs. of pea-
sausage were daUy produced at this establishment ;
this was soon increased, however, up to ten times the
quantity, 2,400 males and females being employed
in the production of this large supply.
by Google
INDEX.
A B SEEK, ii. S94.
^eidi, ii. 294.
Albert, King of Saxony, ii. 106-
139.
Albert of Saxony in the Bohemian
CampsigD of 1866, ii. 124, 125 ;
during the Commane, ii. 134 ;
before Paria, ii. 131 ; at St. Privat,
ii. 127 ; triumphal entry into Dres-
den, iL 13&.
Albrecbt, Archduke, ii 63.
Alexander of HeMe, Prince, Com-
mandei^in-Chief of the 8th corps
of the German Confederation army
in 1866, ii. 241—249.
Alsen, capture of, ii. 144.
AlTeoBleben I., General, ii. 370.
Alrensleben II., General, iL 266—
„ 270 ; at Mars-le-Toui, iL 98—100 ;
267—268.
Amiens, battle of, ii. 178.
Annexation of Hanover, Heese-
Cassel, &c, to Pruesia, i. 161.
Anton, King of Saxony, ii. 112.
Army Bill, iL 1—2.
Army Orraunisation Bill, L 251.
Aschaffenbuig, defeat of the AoBtrians
at, iL 247.
Angiutenbtuw, PrinM Frederick of,
L 129, &e.
Anrelle de Paladinea, ii. 102 ; and
the Army of the Loire, iL 263.
Anitro-PnuHian alliwice and war
against Denmark in 1664, i.
Bafauvb, German rictoiy at, it,
179.
Borneknw, General, iL 270.
Beaumont, battle of, ii. 75, 129.
Beaune-Ia -Rolands, battle-of, ii. 1
Benedek, iL 48, 57, 61, 63.
Benedetti, L 159.
Beust, iL 116, 118.
Beyer, General, ii. 213, 216, 243.
Bismarck, i, 88 — 257.
Bismarck, cabal against, i. 227 — 246.
Bismarck's staff, ii. 294.
Bismarck of Osterborg, L 1B8.
Blanckenburg, i. 258.
Blois, occupation of by the Germ&nti,
iL 103.
Bliicher, Marshal, iL 2B.
Blum, Bobert, ii. 5,
Blumenan, hattle of, ii. 97.
Blumentbal, General, iL 71—73,270.
Bocknm-Dolffs, L 126.
Bohemian campaign of 1366, ii.48 —
62
Bonaparto at Campo Formio and
Tilsit, i. 176.
Boniface VIII., Unam SanctamBaU,
L272.
Bouin, Oenenl, L 62—64.
Boee, General, ii. 97, 270.
Bonrbaki's movement, iL 221 ; attack
upon Werder'a position before
Belfort, ii. 229—333.
BrandenborK, Count, L 111.
Bucher, LotSar, iL 307—317.
Bulow, iL 294.
Cambbibl, General, ii. SIS, 313,
218.
Campbansen, Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer and Vice - President of
Google
the Prussian Mtnistr;, i
203.
Cuirobeit at Tionville, ii.
Catholic jonmals and booka in Ger-
many, i. 287—292.
Cdibitqr of priesia— Pope Gr^ory
VII., L317, 318.
Cbuuf, Geaeral, serin of defeats of,
il 103, 104.
Cbuve oF Prussian cavalr; at Vion-
TiQe, ii. 08, 99.
Charles of Barana, Prince, Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Confede-
rate South German army in 1B66,
ii. 341—249.
Cherillf , defeat of the French at, ii.
103.
Chilliers-aux-Bois, defeat of the
French at, ii. 103.
Civil Marriage Law, L 249.
Clamart, attiM^ upon, iL 2Sfi.
Clement XI. and King Frederick I.
of Prussia, L 276.
Clement XIV. (Ganganelli), k 813.
Cohen (Ferdinand), attempt on Bis-
marck's life, i. 141
Contie, camp of, taken bj the
Germans, Il 104.
Conbtrini, Cardinal, L 330, 331.
CoulmierH, battle of^ ii. 254.
Council of Constance, i, 327 ; of
Pisa, L 327 ; of Trent, L 328, 332,
333.
Coarcelles, fight at, it. 160.
Craujhasr, General, ii. 270.
Cremer, General, ii. 219, 221.
Crovn Prince of Pnuaia "knd Ger-
many, i. 147, iL 33—81 ; and
Bismarck, meeting between, ii. 48,
67 ; Grand Master of the Pnisoan
Lodges, ii 47; addreaa to the
Grand Land LodM of Germany, it.
64 ; at Nachod, li 52 ; a printer,
U.43.
Dalbbro, ii. 109.
Debschitz, General, iL 13, 213.
Begenfeld, General, it 212, 218.
Delbriick, Preaident, ii 29&— 306.
Diet, German, at Frankfort — Vote
of 14th of Jnne, 1866, i 14S.
Dijon, capture of by the Germans, ii
216—217.
Dinkel, Bishop of Aof^fanig, i. 296
DolUnger and hit coadjutor* in the
Old-Catholic movement, i 312,
Domi'ntM ae redemplor noiter Bull, L
213.
DoDchery, the " Vn Victis" ot, L 72
—87.
Douay, Abel, General, ii 67, 69.
Dreyse, Francis, ii 327 .
Dreyse, John Nicbolax, il 319— 32S.
Droete-Vischering, Archbishop of
Cologne, ii 23.
Ducrot's second sortie, ii 133.
Diippei capture of, ii 88.
Dupr£, General, ii n't
BicHHOBH, i SOS.
Elizabeth, Queen of Prassia, i 9, 10,
33—41, 143. 162.
Ems, pDnctuaCion of, i. 2SE>— 202.
England, Lssker on, ii. 7, 8.
Etiel, General, u. 272.
Faidhbrbb, General, atBapaume, ii
179 ; at St. Qaentm, ii 199.
Failly, General, at Beanmont, ii 129.
Falckenstein, General Vogel von, ii
181—191 ; an artist, ii 183, 184 ;
chief of the staff in the Schleewig-
HoUtein war of 1864, ii 184;
governor of Jutland in 1864, iL
185; in 18S6, ii 185—188; at
Montmirail, ii. 183 ; defence of Uw
Coast lands in 1870, ii. 190.
Feetetica, General, ii 56.
Flies, Genera], at Langensalza, i
158, ii. 243.
F6rat«T, Prince-Bishop of Brealan, i
299—302.
FTan9ois, General, ii 270.
Frankfort-on-the-Main, meeting of
German princes at, in 1863, i 127;
peace of, i 181.
Fransecky, General, ii 93, 97.
Frederick Aogustus, King of Saxony,
ii 114.
Frederick Charies, Prince, ii B2 —
105 ; essays on strategic and sta-
tistic (jaestions, iL 86 ; at Uia-
sunde, li. 87.
Frederick William II., i. 3, 200.
Frederick WiUiam III., i 2—8.
Frederick William IV., i 2, 8, 13,
20, 204.
Frohnhofen, defiatoftfaeHesaianaati
"■*"■ ,„,_ Gooylc
Index.
Frossard, Genera!, at Spicheren, ii.
165- 157.
Pnlda, Epiacopal tneeting at, i. 201
—211.
Gablbntz in Holstein, ii. 169; at
TiaaUnau and Rogniti, i. 63, ii. 65.
Gambetto, ii 102 ; plan of an in-
TfiBion of Sonth Germany, ii. 221.
G(irib8ldi,ii.214,Sl&, 2ia
Garibaldi, Menotti, u. 219.
Gastein, convention of, i. 132.
Gitschin, -riclory at, ii. 90.
Gliimer, General— Victory of Nnits,
ii. 221.
Goben, General, ii. 192-202 ; with
Don Carloa in Spain, ii- 193—195 ;
b Morocco in 1860, il 196 i in the
DanUh war of 1864, ii. 197 ; in
the campaign on tte Main, ii.
197, 198 ; TiotoriooB at Derm-
bach, ii. 246 ; victorious at Gerchs-
heim, ii. 248 ; takes KiasiDoen,
ii 247 ; at Amiens, on the Halluf
and at Bapaume, ii
; at Mars-
la-Tour and Gravelotte, ii. 198 ; at
Spicheren, ii 156, 19B ; Tictory of
St. Quentin.ii. 199— 201.
Goltz, General Ton dei-, at Longeau,
ii.220.
Oravelotte, battle of, Il 126.
Griinberg, ii 333—334.
Haobh, Otto, of the Itwterfturjw
Ztitung, ii. 12.
Hallue, battle on the, ii 178.
Hartmann, General, il 218—265 ; an
artist, ii. 260 ; an officer in the
French Bervice from 1811-1815,
iL 259 ; during the siege of Paris,
ii. 264—265 ; at Waterloo, ii. 259 ;
at Weiflsenhurg and Worth, ii
Hartroann, Prussian Genera], at
Tobitachau, ii 63.
Halafeld, ii. 294.
Herwarth von Eittenfeld, Field-Mar-
Bhal, ii. 140—150 ; capture of
Alaen, ii. 144; commander of the
Army of the Elbe In 1866, ii. 145 ;
at Koniggrati, 148 ; Governor-
General of the Rhine Provinces in
1870, ii. 149 ; jubilee of sixtieth
anniversary of taking service in
the army, ii. IS" ; loss of three
sons at ProbluB, VionviUe, and St.
Privftt, ii 149.
Heydt, Von der, PriisRian Chancellor
of the Exchequer, ii. 278—286.
Hinderain, General, ii 271—276.
HolienioUern, house of, ii. 35 — 10.
HohenzoUern, Prince Leopold of, L
172.
HoUeben, General, ii. 272.
Holtsiendorff, General, ii. II.
Hiihnerwasser, battle of, ii. 146.
Huas, John, i. 307—312, 327.
Indemnitt, Bill of, i. 162, 167.
In&llibility, Papal, L 198, &c
Jerome of Prague, i 328.
Jesuits, i. 211.
Jeauit Expulsion Law, i. 201, 211.
Jesuit8,abolitionoftheoriierof,i.213.
Jesuit teaching in France, i. 202.
Jews, treatment of, in Prussia, ii.
11.
John, King of Sanony, ii 107—121.
Joseph n.. Emperor of Germany, i.
213.
Kaiser. Catholic army chaplain, i.
304.
Komeke, General, at Spicheren, ii.
155.
Kirolji, Count, Austrian Ambassa-
dor at Berlin, L 124.
Keller, General, ii 219, 220 ; cap-
ture of Frahier and Chenebier l^,
Kettler, Bishop of Mayence, i 216,
268, 270.
KendeU, ii 294.
Kirchbach, General, ii 270.
Klapka, Prussian convention with,
ii. 62.
Koniggratz, battle of, iL 68, 91.
KSnigiuhof, capture of, ii 66.
KremenU, Bishop of Ermeland, i
264, 272—278.
Krupp, Alfred, ii. 328-332.
Knipp, Frederick, ii. 328, 329.
Kullmann, attempt on Bismarck s
life, i. 253.
Kumiuer, General, in the battle ol
NoisseviUe, u. 176—178.
Ladmiraolt, General, at Coarcelles,
ii. 160. .
La Fire, cnptore of, ii. 1"8.
La Marmora, L 156, ii 62.
LaneensttlEa, battle of, i. lB8,)i^S43. .
Index.
Lasker, Edward, i 247, U. 1 — 13 ;
00 England, li. 7, 8.
Lau&ch, defeat of the Hossuini at,
ii. 247.
Ledochowaki, Archbishop of Posen,
i, 252.
Legeditch, General, ii. Qtt.
Leopold of Hoheuzotlera. L 172.
Licblenber;,', ttipture of, ii. 73,
Liebenaii, victory at, ii. 89.
Local Government Bill, l 223.
Louise, Cj^ieea of Prussia, L 3, 6.
Loyola, i. 211.
Luthor, i. 313, 329, 330.
LiiTCDiburg qiie*tii>n, i. 168.
Liitzelat«ia, capture uf, it. 173.
MacMahon, ii. 69, 74, 75 ; firat
nieetinx with Albtrt of Saxony,
iL 121; necond meeting with Al-
bert of Saxony, ii. 130 j at Sedan,
ii. 129.
Manstein, General, his blunder at
Kolin, ii. 94—96.
Manntein. General, ii. 270.
MHUtcutrel, Ficld-Marxhal, ii. 103—
18(1 ; commander of the Army of
the South, ii. 17S ; at Courcelles,
it. 16(1, 175 ; and Falkenstein, ii.
173 ; BueceeiU VoRel von F.dcken-
stein in the command of the Army
of the Main, ii. 172 ; and the
Frankforters, iL 174; at Gostein,
ii. 168 ; invadra Hanover, ii. 171 ;
&t Langen3;ib!a, ii. 172 ; at Noia-
serille, ii. irS--178 ; and Prince
Frederick of Augustenhririt, iL
ITO ; in Scbleswig, iL 1(1:); and
Tweat«n, ii. 167 ; (jommander-in-
Chief of the Germm Army of
Occupation in France, iL 180.
MarAitl, capture of, ii. 73.
Mars-la-Tour, battle of, iL 9S, 287,
26«.
Metancbthon, L 331.
Melchera, Paulas, Archbishop of
Cologne, L 267, 232—287.
Met/, sieiB of, ii. 10,1 ; oipitubUion
of, iL 101.
MichMlia, ii. 294.
Michel, General, iL 218.
Michelis, Professor, i. 264.
Miasunfle, ansuccessful attempt upon,
by the Prussians, in 1864, iL 67.
Miillendor^ Maixbal, ii. 28.
Moltke, Fietd-Marnhal, i. 54.
Money Murshals, The, ii. 277.
Moutuuban, Geoer.il (Paliluo), ii.
74.
Miihler, I 193, 208.
MiinchengrAtz, battle of, ii. 147. ,
Mutiua, General, iL 56, 59.
NAcnon, battle of, ii. 51, &c
Nanisi::inowski, Bishop of Agath-
opoli=i, i. 302— 3it5.
Nancy and the four lancers, ii. 73.
Napoleon III. at S.iarbriickeu, it. 86.
Needle-gun, iu 3i."'.
Neu Breiaach, capture of, bytheGer-
m.in», iL 217.
Niciiolusof Russia,!. 111.
NikrtlBburgjprellTninaries of, i. 160.
NoisaeviUe, b.ittlo ..f, iL 176—178.
Nuits, battle of, tL 221.
Obersit;!, General, it. 270.
iEcumenics! Council, i. 198.
0;;iion, battle on the, iL 213.
Uld-Catholic Movement in Ger-
many, L 3iKi— 3:16 ; Pro:Tramme
of" "Free Cttholic " radical section,
L 314—316; of a dvanceil moderate
section, L 316—320; of D6llinger-
ian section proper, i. 320 — 326.
Ollech, General, li. 272.
Orleans, buttle of, ii. 252, 253 ;
retaken by the Germans, ii. 103.
Paris, advance upon, ii 75 ; sor-
rounded, ii. 77.
Patriarchal*, German, i. 271.
Paul III., Pope (Farnese), L 328.
Pea-saasu{ze. ii. 333, 334.
Peucker, General, ii. 272.
Pfordteii, Von der, L 160.
Philipsiiom, ii. 294.
Pins IX., Allocation on St. John's
Day, 1872, i. 276 ; letter of; L 178.
Podbielski, General, ii. 272.
Podol, victory at, ii. 89.
Pontarlier, Ii;;lit at, ii. 179.
Prague, pe^ico of, L 160.
Prim, i. 171.
Princess Royal of England, ii 80 ;
de-..ent of, ii. 44.
Pron liiynski. General, ii. 57.
Protest of sixty-seven Bisliops against
Vatican decroes, i 2:63.
QceuK Carola Wasa of Saxony,
ii. 1S3.
Qneen Elizabeth of Fnissin, i. 9, 10,
.13—41, 143, 152, Sftl ; ii. 116.
Queen Lauiae of Pnusia, i. 3, 6.
Has, Bishop of Sttashiug, l 217,
^78.
Keinkens, Old-Catholio Bishop, i. 300.
Kenftle, p:irlsh priest, i. 29B.
Rheinhaben, Oenenil, ii. 270.
Eicei, Genera) of order ot the Jeauila,
L a 15.
RogniU, battle of, ii. 65.
RouiJEh Bishops in Gennnny, i. 269.
Eomish Episcopate in Qermany, i.
258—306.
Bomish Episcopate and OId-C»tho1ic
Movemeot in Germiiny, i. 258 —
336.
Eoon, Field-Marshal, i. 42—53 ;
Prime Minister of Prassia, i. 239.
Roaen, occupation of by the Ger-
Boamania, Prince Chatlea 0^ i. 137.
SAAftBuncKES, French attaclt upon,
ii65.
Sadowa and Chluia, battle uf, ii. 6S.
St. Barbe, battle of, ii. ITC— 178.
Si. Privat, en^iigement at, ii. 127.
St. Quentin, battle of, ii. 199—201.
Siu-uit ainiy at Leipzig in 1H13, iL
136.
Scherr, Archbishop of Munich, i.
266, 279—232.
Schleswig-Holatein question, i. 128,
&c,
Schlettstadt, capture of by the Ger-
mans, ii. 217.
Schlothcim, General, ii. 270 ; inter-
view with Moltke, il 129.
Schmeling, General, ii. 217.
Schmettuu, attack on French centre
at Vionville, ii 99, 268, 269.
School Inspection Bill, I 201, 209.
Sedan, bHttle of, iL 75.
Sedlnitiki, Prince,-BiBhop of BreK-
lau, i. 273.
S^nestry, Bishop of Ratisbon, L 298.
Society of Jesns, i. 211.
Sophia of AuatrJa, ii. 115.
SpecialAnna and Victualling Depart-
ments, ii. 318—319.
Sperling:, General, ii. 270.
Spichcren, battle of, iL 156—158.
Stalki, iL 18.
Stiingl, i. 281.
Stein on public iiutitutions in Prus-
sia, i. £03.
St«inmetz, Field-Motshal, il 151—
162 ; at Nachod, Skalitz, and
Schweinschadel, iL 153 ; at Conr-
celles, ii. 159, 160 ; at Gravelotte,
ii. 160 ; Governor-General of
Posen and Silesia, ii. 161.
Stiehle, General, ii. 270.
Stosch, General, Chief of Staff to
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, ii.
255.
Straabnrg, capitulation of, ii. 210.
Strossniayer, Bishop, i. 267.
Tans, General Von der, ii. 236—
257 ; victory at Artenay, ii. 252 ;
at Bazeilles, ii. 250 ; Chief of
the Ptaff to Prince Charles of
BBT-aria in 1866, iL 241-249;
iiiivterly retreat after battle of
Coulmlers, ii. 254, 255 ; wounded
at Kissingen, ii. 247 ; in Schleswi,;-
Holstein, iL 238.
Tauberbiscbofsheim, fight at, ii
249.
Thile, ii. 294.
Tbun, Count, Austrian Ambassador
at Frankfort, i. 107.
Tobitschau, fight at, ii. 63.
Trautenau, bnttle of, i. 62.
Treaties with Bavaria, Wiirtemberg,
and Baden, publication of by
Bismarck, i. 169.
Tresknw, General, besieges Belfort,
iL 223.
Trochu, General, ii. 79, 134.
Tiimplini;, General, ii. 270.
" ViB VicTis ! " the, of Donchery, i.
72—87.
Vatican Council and Decrees, i. 197.
Vend6nie, occupation of by the Ger-
mans, ii. 103.
Veri^eriuB, Panl, i. 329.
Villersexel, battle of, ii. 223—234.
Villiers-sur-Mame, battles of, ii. 132
—133.
Vionville, fight at, ii. 98, 99, 268.
Vinoy, General, ii. 78.
Vitry, capture of, ii, 74.
Vogel Ton Falckenstein (see Falck-
enatein).
Voigts-Rhetz, General, ii. 270. i
Index.
Waldeck, iL IG.
Waldereee, General, ii- 279.
Wartenberg, General, iL 272.
Wartenslelien, Geuernl, iL 270.
WedeU, General, ii 270.
Wtiaaenburg, battle of, iL 66—69.
Werder, General, ii. £03—235; in
the CaucaBUB, ii. 206, 206 ; defence
of the position before Belfort, iL
226—233 ; at Kbniggratz in 1660,
ii 209 ; promotions and transfera,
ii. 207, 208 ; before Strasburg in
1870, iL 209, 210; victory at
ViUereenel, ii. 223, 224.
Wesaenberg, iL 109.
William of Baden, Prince, ii. 213,
216,216,221,270.
William I., Emperor of Oenuanj, i.
1—32.
William I., King of Prussia, pro-
claimed Emperor of German;, L 29.
Wittich, General, iL 270.
Wollmann, L 272.
Worms, Synod of, L 259.
Wrangel, Field-Marshal, ii. 19--32.
Wiirlemberg, Augustus, Prince of, ii.
66.
Zabtrow, General, iL 57.
Zealot, a Jesnit, and his r.tvings, i.
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